Xenosaga II The Middle
by Aerith The Evenstar
Summary: Sequel to Xenosaga I The Beginning. Ayame's search for her memories continues in this story. Along the way she learns more about who she is and that even friendship can become something more. Please remember to review. Constructive criticism is welcome.
1. Chapter 1

ATE: I have finally posted the next story, Xenosaga II The Middle. I know not very original, but it was all I could come up with at the last second. Enjoy everyone, I know my self-appointed editoress would :) I would like to thank Dualist of Dawn for review my story as well, I know that you'll like it.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own any characters that are new to the whole story/series.****

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****Xenosaga II**

**The Middle**

Chapter 1

The Elsa had managed to make it safely to Second Miltia after what happened on Proto Merkabah. Despite the landing, everyone was alive and okay as the ship flew over the ocean.

_R&D report. File 026643. The anti-Gnosis battle android KOS-MOS, while undergoing start-up in field testing, onboard the Federation cruiser Woglinde, awoke during the Gnosis attack on the fleet. She initiated autonomous mode even though that mode was still sealed and has been fully operational ever since. KOS-MOS is acting under her own volition. However, there are many unstable elements in her emotional program and further improvements will be required. After the escape from the Woglinde, we were rescued by the Elsa, a Kukai Foundation cargo ship. We were presently descending into Second Miltia in order to turn KOS-MOS into Vector's Second R&D Division. _

_Furthermore, while en route to Miltia, we took the 100-Series Observational Realian Prototype, MOMO into custody. During this time, we were pursued by the U-TIC Organization and an individual called Albedo. Albedo's tenacious attack brought about the appearance of the Song of Nephilim and Proto Merkabah. _

_KOS-MOS' actions allowed us to overcome these crises. I believe this series of actions by KOS-MOS has been greatly influenced by her black box components left behind by the late Kevin Winnicot. This will likely become a major focus on our future research. _

_- Report author, Shion Uzuki, chief engineer. KOS-MOS development project general authorization's Vector Industries First R&D Division._

Tony told Hammer something and because of his excitement Captain Matthews kicked him in the back of his head. While everyone was talking, Jr. accidentally shoved Allen into Shion, causing the woman to drop her glasses and Allen accidentally stepped on them and broke them. Shion got mad at Allen, but then later didn't regret not having them and turned to KOS-MOS.

After that the Elsa flew towards Second Miltia City landing in the Space Port landing zone.

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_(Jr.'s POV)_

It was after we landed that everyone else started to clear out of the Bridge on the Elsa. I suddenly realized that Ayame wasn't among us and I immediately turned to Matthews.

"Hey, Matthews?" I asked. "Do you know where Ayame is?"

Matthews turned to look at me.

"No I don't, Little Master." The captain answered.

"I know where she is." Allen suddenly said.

"Well, then where is she?" I asked again.

"The last I saw her, she told me that she was going to the cabin to rest." He told me. I knew by cabin he meant the woman's cabin.

"Thanks."

I left the Bridge and made my way to the woman's cabin to get Ayame. I didn't want to leave her behind. Besides, she would miss the chance of seeing Second Miltia. I soon came to the door to the cabin and went inside, only to have my eyes widen at what I saw!

Lying on the floor (on her right side) was Ayame, sprawled and unconscious as her long white blonde hair spread out around her with some strands falling into her face. I immediately ran over to her right side (the direction her back faced), turning her onto her back as I held the upper half of her body in my arms.

"_What happened to her?!_" I thought worriedly.

"Ayame!" I cried as I tried shaking her awake. "Ayame, wake up!"

As I did this Ayame started to stir, her blue eyes cracking open and then began opening slowly until they were completely open. She started to look around the room when her eyes set their gaze on me, confusion evident in them.

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_(Ayame's POV)_

_Everything was dark and I didn't know where I was. The darkness seemed to stretch endlessly and I felt scared._

"_Where am I…?" I asked myself, my voice echoing around me until it faded. I let my head hanged._

"_Ayame!"_

_My head shot up upon hearing the familiar voice. That was Jr.! My eyes widened as I looked around wildly hoping to find Jr., but I couldn't find him anywhere._

"_Jr.? Is that you?" I called out._

"_Ayame, wake up!" He said, sounding as if he didn't heard me._

"_Wake up…?" I thought._

I felt as if someone was shaking me. I tried to open my eyes but had difficulty in doing so. I eventually managed to crack my eyes open and found that it became easier to open them as I slowly opened them. When I finally managed to open them I started looking around the room and remembered that I was inside the woman's cabin on the Elsa. I noticed that someone was holding me and looked up to find Jr. looking down at me with concern in his blue eyes and I immediately felt confused.

"Jr.…?" I asked confused.

"Are you okay, Ayame?" He asked, holding me a little tighter. "What happened?"

I remembered the Elsa had been shaking and then the pain in my chest, causing me to clutch it and fell to my knees to the ground. I could vividly remember my breathing being heavy and how my lungs felt like they weren't getting enough oxygen. And then there was the pain that had suddenly came out of nowhere before it intensified to the point that it was white-hot, crying out in pain, and falling unconscious. And now here I am being held by Jr. as he looked at me with such worry in his eyes.

"_Should I tell him?_" I thought. "_No. I can't tell him. It would only cause him to worry more about me._"

"I had woken up when I felt the Elsa shaking and one of them must have been strong enough to cause to fall to the ground. The impact must've made me fall unconscious." I lied.

I wasn't sure what Jr. was thinking, but the worry in his eyes seem to disappear to give way to relieve, a small smile graced his lips.

"Good. I was worried that you might've gotten hurt or something." He said.

We stared at each other for a while in silence. Jr. must've noticed how close we were and the fact that he was holding me when he started blushing (I felt my face heat up as well) and looked away as his grip on my loosened. I took this chance to be able to sit up and his arms retreated to his side as he stood up. When he stood up he held his hand out to me, offering to help me up from the floor I sat on.

When I took hold of his hand my stomach seemed to do what felt like a flip again and I immediately wondered why I felt that way. With Jr.'s help I was able to get to my feet and stood in front of him. It seemed like he was a little reluctant to let go of my hand, but he eventually he let go if not slowly, a blush on his face as his eyes seemed to look at our hands and I wondered why he was blushing in the first place.

"Thank you." I said.

This caused Jr. to look up at me, his face back to its normal shade and a smile on his face.

"No problem." He said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Go? To where?"

He sighed as he shook his head.

"With us. We've finally reached Second Miltia safely. I want you to come with us, since this might give you an opportunity to see a new place, and I definitely don't want to leave you behind."

"Oh!" I realized. "Of course I'll come!"

It was with that that we left the cabin along with leaving the Elsa.

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ATE: Finally finished! I hope everyone liked it. Please Review :)


	2. Chapter 2

ATE: I updated the day after I posted the story. I hope you readers had been reading and I hope you all enjoy this chap as well. READ ON!

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own the characters that are new to this story/series.

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Chapter 2

I had followed Jr. outside where we found everyone waiting for us nearby. We went over to them.

"Where were you Jr.?" Shion asked curiously.

"I had to get Ayame and I didn't exactly want to leave her behind." Jr. replied.

"That's good."

We started walking a little ways before we came upon a gate that we went through. As we passed through the gate I saw people everywhere, some being at what appeared to be a phone booth with a communication monitor to our left while others were talking to each other.

"Ahhh, it's so good to be alive!" Allen said relieved.

"Yeah, no kidding." Jr. said. "For a while there, I was kinda worried, but somehow we made it back."

"I'm telling you, the array stuff the chief pulls always keeps me on edge."

Shion suddenly stopped and I suspected it was because of what Allen said.

"What are you saying?" Shion said accusingly. "You make it sound like it was all my fault."

"Oh, uh…that's not what I meant." He looked to KOS-MOS. "I, uh…hey, KOS-MOS! Thank goodness you were there! Man, you really saved us!"

"Thank you very much. I am happy to be of service." KOS-MOS replied in her monotonous voice.

"Hey, we're gonna head over to the government office now." Jr. said, referring to me, chaos, MOMO, Ziggy, and himself. "What are you all gonna do, Shion?"

"Hmm." Shion looked to be thinking. "Well, we need to hand over KOS-MOS. I think I'll wander over to Vector's Second Division. Is that all right with you, KOS-MOS?"

"Acknowledged." The android replied. "That will not be a problem."

"I see." Jr. stated. "Well, I guess you gotta do your job. You're gonna be here for a little while, right? Hey, maybe we can have some fun later."

"That'd be great!" Shion looked to MOMO and I. "I'll show you around this place, MOMO. You too, Ayame."

"Thanks. I'm looking forward to it!" MOMO said with a smile.

"Thank you, Shion. That's really nice of you." I said.

"All right, then." Shion said. "Shall we, KOS-MOS?"

"Please excuse us. Good-bye."

It was with that that Shion and KOS-MOS left, passing by Allen.

"What the?" Allen seemed to realize that the two left and started running after them to catch up. "Hey, Chief! Wait up!"

We all watched this happen and I couldn't help but giggle a little.

"Heh. I suppose we should get going, too." Jr. said.

"Sorry…could you wait just a little while? I'm going to report what's happened to the Subcommittee." Ziggy turned to MOMO. "It appears that Dr. Mizrahi has also arrived at Miltia, as well. If you have a message for her."

"Really? Mommy's here?" MOMO asked smiling brightly.

"Yes."

"Please let her know that I'm looking forward to seeing her."

"Got it." Ziggy nodded. "I'll pass it along."

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_(Jr.'s POV)_

I found Ziggy talking to Juli Mizrahi on the U.M.N terminal and where talking about MOMO.

"All right." She said. "Continue your assignment until the delivery is complete."

"Acknowledged." Ziggy nodded.

There was a brief pause.

"Dr. Mizrahi."

"Yes, Jan Sauer. Is there something else?"

"_Ah! It appears the old man's name was Jan Sauer!_" I thought.

There was another brief pause.

"I am currently Ziggurat 8." I could see why his name was changed to Ziggy (and Ziggurat 8 is too long).

"So it appears."

"MOMO…is looking forward to seeing you."

"I see." Juli said, sounding scared. "I… I, too, welcome your arrival."

The communication ended and I decided to break the silence.

"You know, it almost sounds like she's scared to meet her." I stated, leaning up against the side opening frame with my arms crossed. I looked to Ziggy, waiting for an reply.

"Eavesdropping is not a very admirable pastime." He said.

"_How typical…_"

I changed my position by standing up, but leaned my left arm on the rail next to me.

"Say old man, how about upgrading to a modern carbon-based body?" I suggested. "I bet if we applied combat Realian technology, we'd see some serious results."

I saw Ziggy shake his head.

"There's no need to play around with extending my lifespan."

"Sure about that?" I placed my right hand on my hip. "I bet MOMO would be happy if you lived longer."

"I'll pass, thanks. I have no desire to prolong things."

I sighed.

"All right." I took my left arm off the railing and started walking away. "You know who to call if you ever change your mind."

It was with that that I left.

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_(Ayame's POV)_

I stood with chaos and MOMO outside the station near what chaos told me was a transport vehicle, waiting for Ziggy to get back. Jr. had left earlier to see what he was doing. What was it that he was trying to do?

Just then we saw Jr. riding an down the escalator that we had gone down earlier and ran over to us.

"What was that about?" I asked him.

"Nothing in the least bit interesting." He told me. "It might make you bored if you were to listen."

"Oh…"

"C'mon. Let's get inside the transport vehicle and wait for Ziggy."

Jr., chaos, MOMO, and I got inside the transport vehicle. MOMO and chaos sat in the row that was facing the front, a seat between them seemingly being reserved for Ziggy, while Jr. and I sat next to each other facing the others (Jr. had his legs crossed as he sat). Soon Ziggy came up to the vehicle and got in, taking the vacant spot between chaos and MOMO. The vehicle then started to move and I looked behind me to see that there was no one driving it.

"The vehicle's moving by itself?" I asked.

"Don't worry, Ayame. It's only on autopilot." chaos said from the seats across us. "I'm guessing that this is your first time riding a vehicle on autopilot, right?"

"Yes." I nodded.

Some time passed as the vehicle drove through the highway. MOMO turned to Ziggy looking hopeful.

"What did Mommy say, Ziggy?" She asked.

Ziggy looked to MOMO.

"Ah, right… She seemed…very busy." The cyborg replied.

"Oh. I knew it." MOMO looked at the ground disappointed.

"She's one of the Contact Subcommittee's head members. I'm sure it's a demanding role."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." MOMO lifted her head up a little. "I guess I've got to do my best to help her out."

We were all quiet as the vehicle continued to drive itself on the highway. I thought back to what happened to me on the Elsa and the pain that I had felt on my back. Why did it happen and what did it mean?

Suddenly I heard MOMO cry out and looked to she that she was looking at the window. I looked out the window and saw what appeared to be a giant robot flying and it appeared to be following us. Everyone must had seen it by now

"What the…?" Jr. cried out, looking as if he were ready to get out of his seat next to me.

"An ambush?" Ziggy asked.

chaos gasped and pointed to something behind the seats Jr. and I sat at and I saw that it was another giant robot. Its hand grabbed the hood of the vehicle that we were riding in and MOMO screamed in fright.

"Jr., who are they?" Ziggy was holding MOMO protectively.

The robot made the glass hood crack with its hand.

"Albedo?" Jr. asked. "No, it's not him. It's too gentle for him."

Jr. pulled out his guns and started firing at the robot that had its hand on the hood. Eventually, it pulled the hood off completely. Jr. took this chance to stand up and continued shooting at the robot as the other one joined it soon after. The other robot tried to attack MOMO and Ziggy, but the cyborg did a flash attack at the it. Jr. kept on firing his guns.

"Damn, it's no good on auto." Jr. said. "Somebody, drive!"

MOMO started to pull away from Ziggy/

"Ziggy, let me go!" MOMO said.

MOMO quickly crawled under Jr. (causing him to lift his left leg) and to the driver's seat.

"Whoa! Hey, MOMO!"

"I'll do it."

MOMO sat in the driver's seat, taking hold of the wheel.

"Jr." MOMO called.

"All right. Point 2089. Floor it!"

"_Wait! Floor it?!_" I thought.

"Okay!"

MOMO started to drive really fast and quickly passed through lots of other vehicles. I couldn't help but grab onto the seat with a death grip.

"Ayame, help me out here!" Jr. said.

I looked up at Jr.

"You need me to help you hold them off?" I asked.

"Yeah! Think of it as target practice!"

I stood up as well, taking out my guns, the Shiruba, and started shooting at the robot that Jr. wasn't shooting at. Suddenly MOMO made a sharp turn and caused Jr. and I (who had been standing) to almost loose our balance, but Jr. had ended up leaning over the front row seats.

"_This is crazy!_" I thought.

While speeding up, those mechs kept following us and Jr. and I continued to open fire at them. Suddenly one of them fired missiles at the road and caused lots of vehicles to crashing into each other.

"This might get rough." MOMO said.

Suddenly MOMO steered the vehicle sideways of the highway fences. I immediately grabbed onto the seat when this happed and Jr. almost lost his balance, but luckily chaos managed to grab his hand in time. Then, MOMO steered the vehicle back to the road and then we stated to pass the tunnel.

"All right! We made it!" Jr. said excitedly.

Suddenly, one of the mechs crashed through the glass roof in front of us and we tried to pass it. Jr. and I continued to shoot it as it approached the vehicle we were in and grabbed the vehicle from the back. This caused both of us to fall and hit the front seats behind us

"Jr.!"

I looked up to see that chaos was holding a small object.

"The fire extinguisher? Yes!" Jr. exclaimed.

chaos threw the fire extinguisher at the persistent mech. Jr. stood up, twirling around until he was facing the mech again and shot the fire extinguisher, making it lose sight of us. People started panicking as the vehicle we were in suddenly went into the stairways and crashed into the shutter. The sudden impact cause me to fall into my seat, and for once I was glad I hadn't been sent flying into a wall.

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ATE: Well what do you all think? I know it's short but I'll make sure to update soon.

Please Review! :)


	3. Chapter 3

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ATE: Yes! I updated again! Fair warning, this one's looonnnggg! Thank you for reviewing the last two chaps Dualist of Dawn, they really encouraged me to the point that I had to write this chap yesterday after uploading the last chap. Anyways, go read!

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga (property of Namco). I only own the OCs.

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Chapter 3

After the vehicle had crashed we managed to get out safely and without any injury.

"They're right behind us." Ziggy stated.

"Okay!" Jr. said. "We'll head for point 2089, the roof of Second Miltia Defense System 6."

"Good thinking." chaos said. "That way, the citizens won't get caught in the middle. Let's go!"

We started making our way to that place, point 2089. Along the way we had been attacked by people wearing strange uniforms, but we were able to handle them. I was told that they were U-TIC soldier and occasionally we were forced to fight them.

In the next area Jr. put his hand against his ear as we continued to run and I wondered what he was doing.

"Gaignun, we're headed for 2089." Jr. said. "Tell Helmer to send backup!"

So Jr. was contacting Gaignun.

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In the Kukai Foundation's office Gaignun was feeling strange and was holding his head.

"Hey! Gaignun!"

Gaignun's head shot up upon hearing Jr.'s voice as he came to his senses.

"Sorry. What's your heading?" He asked as he sat up straight in his chair.

"2089!" Jr. repeated.

"Got it!" He said. He spotted his coffee mug and suddenly wondered how it had spilled. "Strange…What was I just doing?"

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Representative Helmer was in his office holding a phone to his ear. The call was from Gaignun.

"Understood." He said. "I've already dispatched someone. I'll have him head to that point immediately." Helmer hung up the phone. "Damn. It's not even safe on land anymore."

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As we were making our way to Second Miltia Defense System 6 we had fought more U-TIC soldiers and later on encountered something called Executus Sagitta that had chased us down a ramp. We soon defeated it and once we got off the ramp a vehicle had blocked the road that was to the right of the ramp. We continued our way in the other direction and went up some stairs, after reaching the top what appeared to be a helicopter of some sort flew behind us and dropped what looked like a yellow laser next thing that blocked the stairs that we had just came up and four U-TIC soldiers wearing white suits surrounded us. We were able to defeat them but it was the laser next that we had to worry about now. As we ran we realized that we wouldn't be able to outrun the laser net completely, but then I noticed that there were areas on the side that the laser net wasn't able to touch and there happened to be one nearby.

"Everyone head that way." I said, pointing to the area nearby.

We all ran over to the area and just as I thought the laser next didn't touch us and instead passed right by us.

"It looks like we're going to have to time ourselves before running to those other areas up ahead." I pointed out. "That way we won't be caught."

"Good thinking." chaos said.

We waited for the one of the laser nets to pass us when we started making a run for the next area on the side of the road. We did this again and afterwards we were able to get to the end where the laser next couldn't get up. Ahead of us was an elevator that would take us up.

After riding the elevator to the top we found that we were in what looked like a construction area. We went further into the area when a mech (called O-88 Libra) appeared out of nowhere and we had no choice but to fight it. We eventually defeated it and we continued to move on.

We soon came to an area that that had a big round area in the middle and to the sides were four-way sections (including the one we were running across).

"Long time no see! You're looking well."

We stopped running and stood in the center four-way area after hearing the voice.

"You remember me, right?" Suddenly a mech (earlier I was told that it was a A.M.W.S) from before appeared and landed in front of us. "My name is Richard! Let that name burn in your mind as you die!"

Suddenly the other A.M.W.S. from before appeared and we had to fight them. Upon using the Ether Analysis I discovered that they were called Pilum and Scutum. Most of the fight consisted of the pattern of hit and run with MOMO and I occasionally casting Healing type Ethers to help everyone out.

We eventually won, but the victory was short-lived when another mech (brown in color) appeared. It flew in not seeming to use the one wing it had on it left side.

"Another A.M.W.S?" I asked.

"No! It's an E.S.!" chaos stated.

"Stand down, you two!" A female voice told the two people that were in their A.M.W.S. "I'll take care of the rest."

The two A.M.W.S. flew away, leaving the E.S. behind. The E.S. launched pieces of metal bits over us and then the bits fired lasers at us, luckily none of them hit us.

"It's pointless to resist. Turn over the 100-Series, at once!" The woman said again.

The bits were about to fire at us again when suddenly something from far away hot down the bits. Soon another A.M.W.S.--no an E.S.-- appeared. It was dark blue and black in color and held a shield in one hand while the other held a huge gun.

"That craft!" Jr. cried. "Canaan?"

"_Canaan? Who's that?_" I thought.

"Get down, Rubedo!" A male voice said, and I suspected that it came from the person who was piloting the E.S.

The dark blue E.S. and the brown E.S. started fighting each other, clashing blades at each other. The dark blue E.S. fired its machine gun and the brown one pushed its opponent's gun arm causing it to fire elsewhere.

"I've got you!" The woman in the brown E.S. said. Suddenly the two E.S.s started to glow and didn't seem to move at all. The color images were all over the place. "Wait, what's going on? The controls aren't responding! How can this be?" The two E.S.s released themselves from the clashing and moved away. "We've got no choice. Richard, Hermann, abort the mission. We're withdrawing."

The brown E.S and the two A.M.W.S flew away from the area. I watched as the dark blue E.S. descended behind Jr.

"Jeez, man. If you were gonna save us, you know you could have shown up a lot sooner." Jr. said.

"I'm surprised to hear you whine so much." The man (who I assumed was Canaan) said. "Further enemy pursuit appears unlikely for the time being." He was quiet for a while "I'm heading back. I'll see you around, Rubedo."

The E.S. was about to fly away.

"I already told you! I'm Gaignun Jr. now! Get that through your thick head!"

"It's hard to shake my past image of you."

It was with that that the dark blue E.S. flew away from the area as well. MOMO approached Jr. and placed her hand on her left arm.

"Ah, um. Do you know him?" MOMO asked.

"Yeah." Jr. replied. "He's an old acquaintance."

Jr. was suddenly quiet.

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_That day 14 years ago. Rain fell from the dark sky as a boy with red hair wearing a blue uniform walked into the room, a weakened boy with black who was critically wounded was being carried by him in his arms. The red-haired boy seemed to be limping as he walked. _

"_Somebody! Anybody! Please, help us!" The red-haired boy cried, tears pouring down his face. He knelt down on the floor, still holding the boy in his arms as more tears came from his blue eyes. _

"_It won't stop! Nigredo won't stop bleeding!" He cried, referring to the boy he held. He continued crying._

"_It's all right, Rubedo." The black-haired boy called Nigredo said, referring to the boy that held him by his name. "Let it…go."_

"_Don't say that! You can't give up!"_

_Rubedo hung his head as he continued to cry. Suddenly, a bright light shone on both Rubedo and Nigredo, but they didn't seem to noticed._

"_Two U.R.T.V. variants…" Canaan said. "Identified and confirmed."_

_A dark blue and black E.S without a right arm appeared as they are the one who emitted the light on the two boys._

"_The red horse carries war, and the black horse, famine." chaos said. Rubedo looked up at the E.S. "Upon those tiny backs, bear their great calamity."_

"_What did you say, chaos? I didn't read that."_

"_It's nothing. Let's go rescue them."_

_Canaan and chaos got out of the E.S. Canaan picked up Nigredo who was unconscious._

"_It's…it's all my fault." Rubedo said, still crying as chaos picked him up. "I'm the leader…but then I cut the link. And now Albedo's…"_

"_Albedo?" Canaan asked._

"_He's a piece of me. The beating in my right chest." Rubedo fell unconscious, fatigue finally catching up with him._

"_I have the search results." Canaan suddenly said. "Albedo is the name of unit number 667. The records show that he and unit number 666 were conjoined twins. Apparently, it happens on rare occasions even with artificially created children."_

"_So he was infected as well?" chaos asked. "The rider of the white horse. May your bodies and souls find peace. Even if…it is but a short one."_

_Carrying Rubedo and Nigredo, both Canaan and chaos returned to the E.S._

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"I guess I…I owe them my life." Jr. said after being quiet for so long.

"So, you've known chaos for a long time, too?" MOMO asked. There was a brief pause. "Um… Can I also call you Rubedo, too? It's a very pretty name."

Jr. seemed to get confused with how he was going to respond. "S…sorry, it's just…" He looked to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Nah, nah, it's just… I don't have a lot of good memories of that name."

"_Memories…_" I thought.

"Oh. You and Ziggy don't like your original names very much, do you?"

Jr. slightly sighed.

"Names tend to link themselves to memories, both good and bad." He said. "I have a feeling that old man over there has a lot of baggage, himself." I couldn't help but mentally laugh. "Besides, I think old man over there seems to like being called Ziggy."

"Oh, I hope he does!"

"Even though it kinda sounds like something you would call your dog."

Ziggy seemed to started mumbling from what Jr. said that whole time that he was saying that stuff to MOMO. I thought it was pretty funny myself, but I chose to laugh mentally so that I would make Ziggy feel bad.

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Later Ziggy and MOMO had left our group to get ready for the Realian's analysis tomorrow, leaving only Jr., chaos, and I left behind. We soon went on our way and we soon ended up in the city. It was my first time actually seeing Second Miltia (I wasn't able to at first since we were being chased down) and I noticed it wasn't like the Kukai Foundation. I looked more…futuristic as people talked amongst themselves and did whatever else they needed to do. As we walked through the busy place I noticed the many stores that were there with their bright holographic signs displaying their store's name.

"Hey! They have clothes there!" Jr. suddenly said.

We all stopped and I noticed the store that Jr. was looking at. They did in fact have clothes and some of them were on display in the window.

"Do you want to get some clothes, Jr.?" chaos asked.

"You bet!"

"How about you, Ayame?" chaos looked to me along with Jr.

"I guess…" I said.

"C'mon, Ayame! It'll be great!" Jr. said excitedly. "You can pick out your own outfit and everything."

Jr. suddenly grabbed my right hand and started pulling me over to the store, leaving chaos behind. As this happened I felt that sensation of my stomach flipping again and I started to wonder what it meant. He continued to drag me to the store until we were inside the place. Jr. let go of my hand as I stared at all the clothes in the place with wide eyes that I could have sworn were probably the size of saucers.

"_So many clothes!_" I thought amazed.

"Isn't it amazing?" Jr. asked me in his excitement. "There's so many things to choose from too!"

"It really is amazing." I replied, a smile on my face.

chaos was finally able to catch up with us and stood with us as well, probably amazed at how many clothes there were. We all split up to look around, Jr. and chaos going in the area were male section was, while I went to the female section. I looked over the clothes to see if I could find anything when I saw some clothes.

There was a sleeveless white long coat like sweater that was as long as the one I wore, so I picked it out. I soon found a sleeveless lilac colored turtleneck shirt, along with tan short khaki shorts, white arm warmers, white loose socks, and brown shoes that didn't have laces in order to tie them.

When I got everything I picked out I made my way to the changing room (I was able to find it because there was a sign above the door) and went into one of the many stalls there, locking the door when I was inside to avoid anything awkward from happening. As I started to change out of my clothes I heard a someone knocking on the door and looked at it.

"Someone's in here." I said to the person outside.

"Ayame, is that you?" I instantly recognized the person as Jr. by his voice.

"Yeah."

"I found her, chaos." I heard footsteps and assumed that chaos was with him. "I'm guessing you found something, right?"

"Yes, I did."

"We'll be in the other stalls." chaos told me.

"Okay."

With that I heard their footstep on the floor and the doors to two other stalls opened not too far from me. I continued to change until I was wearing the clothes that I picked out. I checked what it looked like in the full body mirror on the side of the stall and noticed how nice it looked as I heard the doors of the two stalls that the others were in open then shut. The sleeveless lilac turtleneck showed a little of my stomach while the white arm warmers covered half of my hands. I still kept my necklace on though.

"I wonder what Ayame picked." That was chaos' voice.

"It'll be interesting to see what she chose." Jr.'s voice. "This is her first time in a store that has clothes."

I took this as my cue to open the door after unlocking it, cracking it open enough for me to see Jr. and chaos in their new outfits talking to each other.

Jr. wore a light red turtleneck sweater that came halfway down to his midsection with what appeared to be a black shirt underneath it to cover the rest of his upper half. He had on western style pants with cowboy boots on his feet and a belt that had a bull on it (and upon a closer look I could make out the words 'Montana', which sounded familiar to me but I didn't know why), while a he wore a burgundy colored long coat sweater like he did with his previous outfit.

chaos wore a tight looking outfit that consisted of o a tight long sleeved dark blue shirt that had a yellow short sleeved jacket that matched the pants he wore. On his hands were gloves and on his feet were dark boots.

They must've noticed that my door was cracked open since they looked in the direction on the stall I was in and I quickly shut it.

"Are you done, Ayame?" chaos asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Why don't you come out?"

"I'm not sure…"

I heard footsteps come over to the stall I was in until they stood in front of it and I could tell by seeing the feet that it was Jr. standing outside.

"It's okay, Ayame." Jr. said. "It can't be that bad."

I opened the door a crack seeing Jr. and chaos waiting patiently for me outside. I opened the door slowly until it was fully open and so they could see the outfit I wore. They seemed to look me up and down as if to take in every detail of my outfit.

"How is it?" I asked.

"It looks nice." chaos answered.

"Really?"

They both nodded.

"Why were you even hiding from us in the first place? It suits you." Jr. said.

"Thank you…"

We soon paid for the clothes and by the time we left the store we soon found that we were hungry.

"Is there someplace to eat?" chaos asked.

We soon started looking for a place to eat when Jr. pointed out a place called 'Moby Dick's Café' so we decided to check it out. We went inside through the door, a bell ringing as the door opened and we started to ascend the stairs.

"Wow! Just look at this place, chaos! It's perfect!" Jr. said as he excitedly looked around the place. "It feels just like the Pequod, doesn't it?"

"The Pequod?" I asked Jr.

"It's the name of the ship from the book 'Moby Dick'." He explained.

It was then that we saw Shion as we walked into the room, the woman sitting on the chair at the bar area.

"Shion!" chaos called.

When Shion heard us she seemed to almost jump out of her chair, but seemed to calm down when she saw us..

"What are you three doing here?" Shion asked.

We walked over to where Shion was.

"Well, we were starving, so…" Jr. began.

"So, we ended up here." chaos finished.

I nodded.

"So you all know each other?" The man at the counter asked. He looked to be middle aged with graying hair.

"Y…yeah, kinda." Shion answered.

"Kinda?" chaos asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh! I'm sorry. I was just a little rattled."

"Rattled? About what?"

"Shion's just got family matters on her mind today, right?" The man asked.

Shion started giggling and Jr., chaos, and I looked at each other puzzled.

----------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in the Second Miltian government office, Gaignun walked into the office belonging to Helmer accompanied by Mary and Shelley. Standing in front of a window was Representative Helmer himself.

"My apologies for being late." Gaignun said.

Helmer turned around to face his guests.

"I'm glad you could make it." Helmer said. He turned to the Godwin sisters. "Shelley! Mary! Look at you! You're all grown up!"

Mary: "Long time no see, Helmer!" Mary said happily.

"Mary! Show some respect!" Shelley told her younger sister.

Helmer started to laugh a little while walking over to the three.

"It's all right. It makes me feel like I've got a couple of daughters." Helmer stated. "Tell me, Mary, are you still working on your act?"

"Yeah! Right now we're kinda busy, but pretty soon, I'm gonna be the best comedian in this star cluster…even if my sister won't be my partner." The blonde leaned over and started whispering in Helmer's ear. "You know, I've been thinking about recruiting the Little Master."

"That sounds great. I think he'd be perfect." Helmer placed his right hand on Mary's left shoulder/

"Right!"

Helmer took his hand off of her shoulder while laughing a little. He nodded to Gaignun, the latter doing the same in return. Mary and Shelley then left the room, leaving Gaignun and the Realian called Canaan standing in front of Helmer's desk while the Helmer stood behind it looking out the window again.

"I'm afraid I don't have good news." He said. "There's been some disturbing activity and not just from the remnants of U-TIC."

"Yes." Gaignun said.

"Under the circumstances, the peace treaty was our only choice fourteen years ago. But it was hardly a unanimous decision. Now we're starting to see the strain from that within the Federation. According to Captain Roman's report, certain factions have begun showing signs of armed rebellion. The Second Miltian government is on full alert. I'd like all of you at the Foundation to be appropriately cautious, as well. After all, with the Zohar emulators and the 100-Series Prototype in your possession, you've become the focus of a great deal of attention."

Just then Shelley came into the room again.

"Master Gaignun, I've brought MOMO." She said.

"The 100-Series Prototype." Helmer stated.

Gaignun nodded.

"Of course. Send her in." The black-haired man said.

MOMO came into the room and stood in front of the desk.

"Allow me to introduce myself." She said. "I am the 100-Series Observational Unit Prototype, designation: MOMO. The preliminary examination of my internal data is now complete."

"A 100-Series Realian." Canaan said, looking at MOMO.

MOMO looked over at Canaan.

"You're the Enhanced Memory Model, aren't you? Nice to meet you."

"She does look more like her than the mass-produced ones do." Helmer said from where he sat on his chair.

"Yes, she's just like Dr. Mizrahi's late daughter." Gaignun placed his left hand on MOMO's shoulder.

"Hmm…the hand of fate is a mystery. Thank you, MOMO, for overcoming so much in order to come here. Soon you will undergo analysis at the U.M.N. Control Center. We intend to do everything in our power to support the process. Please, just try to relax and fulfill your duty."

"Yes, sir. Thank you very much for your concern." MOMO said while bowing.

MOMO walked away and exited Helmer's office.

Helmer: "Nigredo." Helmer said. "I have something I need for you to do."

MOMO took another bow before leaving the elevator closed..

"You want reconnaissance, don't you?" Gaignun asked.

"Sorry."

Gaignun started was about to leave.

"No need to apologize. It is my family's responsibility."

--------------------------------------------

Once outside of Helmer's office, Gaignun leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He placed two fingers to his temple and seemed to focus.

"_Hey Albedo, where are you?_" Gaignun green eyes started to glow.

Somewhere in space Albedo sat in the cockpit of his A.M.W.S. unit the Simeon.

"Nigredo!" The white-haired man exclaimed.

"_Well, hello then. You sound like you're doing well, unfortunately._" Gaignun said telepathically.

"And you're glib as ever." Albedo stated. "What's wrong? Are you lonely, little baby?"

"_Oh, I'm just doing a little information gathering. Of course, it still isn't too late for us to come to terms_."

"Oh, so now it's peace talks, huh? Didn't McCartney say that, too? 'Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony.'" Albedo started laughing. "But I know your true form, executioner."

"_I shed that skin long ago_."

"Is that so? You sure you're not just hanging around Rubedo because you're waiting for the chance to carry out your mission? I'll be borrowing Rubedo, soon. I don't need you though. Still, I look forward to your efforts nonetheless."

Gaignun pushed off the wall he was leaning on and let his arms fall to his side, his eyes wide.

"Wait! No!"

Gaignun's eyes glowed a bright green and suddenly, Albedo's right arm disappeared, only to then reappeared again.

"Scary, scary… You've always been two-faced, you know. Offering life in the one hand and delivering death in the other. Too bad I can't die."

Albedo started laughing really hard as Gaignun regained his senses, holding his head..

"So, he really intends to link with U-DO no matter what. Still…What does he want with Rubedo?"

-------------------------------------

We now sat at a table (Shion sat on one side of the table while Jr., chaos, and I sat on the other side) eating curry and rice. At first when I saw it I wasn't sure what it was, but Shion told me what it was when I asked her and she told me to try it. When I had placed a spoonful into my mouth I immediately noticed the spicy yet good taste of it and knew that I liked it. I think I've may have had curry before but I couldn't remember when so I assumed that it must had been before I lost my memories. (AN: Yes, I like curry. The stuff is good, but I usually have eat mine at a mild spicy level.)

Later, the camera switches to the Moby Dick Café where Shion's group are having their curry and rice. Jr. eats his curry and rice really fast.

"This rocks!" Jr. said before going back to eating his curry really fast.

"You shouldn't eat so fast, Jr. You might get heart burn." I told Jr. worriedly.

"Don't worry, Ayame. I'll be fine." He told before he once again started eating. I continued to eat mine while occasionally drinking water.

"I get it. So this is where your curry comes from." chaos said.

Shion giggled.

"Figured it out, huh?" Shion asked. "By the way, how's MOMO? Is she done already?"

"They told us the main examination will start tomorrow. There don't seem to be any problems."

"Yeah." Jr. said while eating. "So, since we had some free time, we thought we'd visit the city."

"I see." Shion said.

"What about you?" chaos asked Shion. "Did you turn over KOS-MOS already?"

Shion sighed, looking down at the table.

"Uh, yeah… I had Allen take over the process. It might take some time, though, depending on what else crops up."

Jr. started drinking his water.

"Did something happen over there? You don't look very happy." Jr. noted.

Shion sighed again.

"You know how it is. We've been together for a long time, so saying goodbye is…well, you know."

Jr. continued eating.

"Hmm. That tough, huh?"

"Well yeah. Think about it." chaos said. "What if you had to give up your precious Kahles scope? How would that feel?"

Jr. stopped eating.

"Oh, that would be tough." He said while rubbing the back of his neck. "My wallet and my heart would both grieve."

"Told you."

"Please, do you really have to compare KOS-MOS to Jr.'s collection?" Shion asked.

We all laughed. It was a good laugh too. Some time later we heard the bell ring indicating that the door opened and someone came in.

"Good afternoon, Boss." A deep male voice said.

"Hey, welcome back." The old man, whose name was Boss, said. "What a coincidence! Just now, Shion was… Huh?"

I suddenly noticed that Shion wasn't in her chair. Jr. had just finished his curry and rice and was now finishing off his water. He slouched in his chair with a full stomach with his eyes closed. It was when he opened them that Jr. saw that Shion wasn't in her chair either and leaned forward to looked at her.

"Huh?" Was Jr.'s intelligent answer. Shion folded her hands together in front of her. "You're praying?" She held her right hand to her chest. "You're chest?" She then started flapping her hands up and down. "You're playing the drums?"

Shion looked helpless.

"Man, I give up! What are you trying to say, Shion?" Jr. asked.

"Not so loud! Ah!" Shion covered her mouth with her hands.

"'Shion?' And a voice I've heard somewhere before…" The man said.

The man walked over to the our table and saw Shion covering her eyes, but the woman gave up since he saw her.

"Uh, hi. Long time no see."

Later we were all introduced to the man.

"I'm Jin. Jin Uzuki." The man, Jin, said. "Pleased to meet you."

Jin shook chaos's hand.

"The pleasure is mine." chaos said.

"Same here as well." I said.

Jin was Shion's older brother and he wore a black kimono, his dark hair held back in a ponytail while some strands fell in his face. His outfit reminded me of something, but I didn't know what.

"So, you three are with Shion." Jin said, sitting next to Shion, who suddenly placed both hands over her face and seemed to be uncomfortable around him. "Tell me, has my foolish sister been causing you trouble?"

"Foolish?" Shion cried.

"Quite the opposite." chaos said. "You know, we're actually very much in her debt."

"Truly?" Jin asked, crossing his arms. "You know, you don't have to be nice just because she's here."

"Jin!" Shion slammed her hand on the table.

"It appears I'm not very welcome here, am I?"

"Oh, come on. I didn't say that. I just—"

"Hey Boss. I'll have what they're having, please. Extra spicy."

"Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

"I am listening. So, what were you saying?"

Shion was frustrated. "Forget it. It's just not worth it."

Some time later Boss brought a plate of curry and rice to the table for Jin

"You know, you could have called me." Jin told Shion. "I would have come to meet you. So, how long are you here anyway?"

"I…I was busy! The only reason I'm here is because I got a sudden assignment. I have to spend tonight getting ready for the return trip."

"Huh?" Jr. asked confused. I was just as confused myself. "Hey, I thought you said…" Suddenly Shion went partially under the table and I assumed she kicked Jr. in the leg. "Ow!" He held his right leg as he rubbed it in order to soothe the pain.

"I know this might not be my place to say this, but maybe you should be careful about what you say." I whispered to Jr., who nodded in response to what I said.

Shion giggled. "Never mind. It's nothing really." Suddenly, Shion U.M.N. device started ringing. "I wonder who that could be."

Shion put the communication through and a communication monitor of Allen showed up.

"Hey, Chief. How's it going?" He asked. "Listen, about KOS-MOS, it looks like the Tertiary Equipment code's going to take a little while. Probably about two or three days, at least I'd say. So, I guess we can just take it easy for a while, ok?" Shion placed both of her hands over her face. "Uh, Chief? Is something wrong? You look kind of upset."

"Umph. I'm guessing this isn't a practical joke." Shion said.

"What?"

"Nothing. Your timing is so perfect." She said sarcastically. "Thank you."

"Wait, Chief!"

Shion ended communication with Allen and placed it in her pocket.

"I see… So, you'll be taking it easy for a while, hmm?" Jin asked.

"Okay, fine. I'll come back home, all right? Will that satisfy you?"

"Oh, right." Jin turned to us. "Would the three of you like to come visit? It's not far from here."

"Well? What do you think?" Jr. asked.

"I don't know…" chaos said. "It's a family reunion. We'd probably just be in the way. Wouldn't we?" Shion looked like she was silently begging to us. "Ahem. Of course, we could also take you up on your offer. Just for a little while…"

Some time later we left Moby Dick's Café and walked through town. Shion didn't look the least bit happy.

"So Shion…" I said, trying to make conversation with the older woman. "Where exactly is your home?"

Shion sighed before looking at me.

"It's a little ways from the city, but not that far." Shion answered. "Personally, I'm really not in the mood to go, but what choice do I have."

We continued out way to the Uzuki Residence.

* * *

ATE: Oh yes I've gone that far! I love the part where Shion tries to tell him to keep his voice down. I always call that part 'A charades game gone wrong.'

Anyways, Please Review! :)


	4. Chapter 4

ATE: I've uploaded again! Well, thing is I'm trying to write as much of this story as I can before I leave for the Camen Islands on friday 26th and I won't be back until july 4th. I know it's a long time, but fear not! After posting this chap I'll be writing the next chap right away (the same goes for all the others before then). Anyways, enjoy the story!

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga (it belongs to Namco) or Naruto. I only own the OCs to this story/series.

Oh! I forgot to mention that when I was watching the bookstore scene I had tried to listen carefully to what Jr. was saying in the background while Shion and Jin were talking. It may sound easy, but trust me it was hard to make out what the red-head was saying because the Uzuki siblings were too loud. What I have written in here is my interpretation of what I could making out of Jr. talking.

("Blah blah") - Jr. talking while main conversation is going

* * *

Chapter 4

We soon came to a house and I instantly knew that this was the Uzuki Residence. The door was wooden and one that would slide open and outside next to the door was a sign in a language I didn't understand.

"Wow, chaos! This house is made of wood!" Jr. said looking at chaos.

chaos looked at the sign that was next to the doorway.

"Yeah. And look at that." chaos said. "It's amazing. This place is a bookstore."

"Man! This is so antique! It's too bad Gaignun isn't here to see this!" Jr.'s eyes widen in excitement.

As I looked at the wooden house, I noticed that it looked familiar to me. Not the place itself, but the design and fashion it was built in.

"I recognize this building…" I said.

Everyone seemed to look at me, confusion on their faces.

"You know this place, Ayame?" Jr. asked me.

"No. At least not in the way you're thinking." I shook my head. "It's more like I know the style, but I don't know what it's called."

"So you recognize the Japanese style?" Jin asked.

"Yes. I think there were places with this type of style from where I came from."

"This style is more than 4,000 years old. How is it you think there are places that have it?"

"Ayame was put in suspended animation since the year 2008 A.D., but she somehow got amnesia." chaos explained.

"I see…" Jin said.

We all started walking inside the house. I was amazed when I saw all the books that were inside and Jr.'s eyes went wide and seemed to light up when he saw them as well, but Shion had a dissatisfied look on her face.

"I knew it!" She said.

"Knew what?" chaos asked.

Jr., chaos, and I went over to the bookshelves, the red-head excitedly looking through all of them.

"Hang on, Jin. What is this?" Shion asked dissatisfied. "I thought you opened a doctor's office."

Jin crossed his arms.

"What's with you?" He asked. "What happened to, 'It's good to be back home, big brother'?"

"Sure, if this were a normal home! What happened here? Don't tell me you got bored and changed professions again. Honestly, you've never kept a job for more than six months!"

"Look, in this day and age, doctors are mostly just conversation partners for the elderly. In other words, counselors. I mean, aside from mental illness, everything can be cured with medicine or nanotechnology. There's nothing left for me to do."

("Look at this! That is so cool! And this one…and this one…and this one…and this one…and this definitely…")

I could hear Jr. talking as I looked around the store.

"So, why go to all the trouble of running an expensive medical practice just to chat with people?" Jin asked. "I can do that in any business and if I could sell some stuff, that'd be just a bonus."

("So I'll spend money and get everything.")

I soon came to a bookshelf that had books that had a little picture on the spine along with a number and the word 'Naruto' on it. I took it off the shelf and started reading it, realizing that it was a graphic novel, but I suddenly remembered that it was rightfully called 'manga'.

"Oh, please. You just wanted to use your hobby to cut yourself a tax break. As if you actually invested much in your medical practice, anyway." Shion said. "And what's up with these mountains of books?

("And this one… I've never even seen this one before! I still can't believe it! Gotta get that one. Ow… I'll get this one!")

"There's no way these were any less expensive! Where in the world did you get them all anyway?" Shion said.

"Half of them had been resting in Grandfather's storage for years. I'm sure you at least looked through them when you were a child. The rest are from customers." ("It's okay, I got it!") "There are a lot of people with obscure tastes around here, you know. Building a collection is easier than you'd think. Now, shouldn't we attend to our guests?"

("I love it! Ugh! I can't see.")

I put the manga back on the shelf that it came from after finishing it.

"What? Oh! I was so shocked at what you've done that I completely forgot. chaos! Jr.! Come on insi--"

Shion stopped mid sentence and I looked her to see that she was looked at chaos and Jr., the latter holding a bunch of books in his arms to the point that they blocked his view, but there was some space between the two stacks that he could look through. I couldn't help but stare at Jr. at all the books he was carrying.

"What are you doing?" Shion asked.

"Hmm? Ah, I thought I'd go ahead and get these." Jr. answered.

"Oh, um, thank Shion." chaos turned to Jr. and I. "Come on, Jr., Ayame, let's go in."

"Come on. What about these?"

"You can buy all the books you want later. Come on!"

chaos had to take the books away from Jr. and I couldn't help but giggle but stopped when I saw the somewhat sad expression on Jr.'s face.

"_He must really like reading books._" I thought.

We went inside the house and soon sat on our legs near a table having tea that Jin had served us.

"And so, you're saying you want to help them?" Jin asked Shion, who sat next to him at the table.

"Yes." The dark-haired woman replied.

"I can't condone that. It sounds to me like they're a couple of skilled professionals. It would be foolish for an amateur like you to get involved."

"An amateur? I've already made a difference. Right?"

Jin crossed his arms.

"Anyway, get some rest. Tomorrow, we'll go pay our respects to Mother and Father."

"Wait a minute, Jin. Not this again." Shion looked like she was about to get upset. "I've already told you, I'm not going to their graves. No. I absolutely refuse."

"You're still their daughter. Since you're here, you should at least put flowers on their graves out of respect."

"Just stop it. I can't believe we're talking about this again." Shion placed both of her hands over her face, obviously upset and sighed. "Mom and Dad aren't even in those graves! You know just as well as I do where they are! Right?" She started raising her voice a little "You and I were the only ones there that day. And if you…if you'd only been there sooner, they'd still be…"

Jin looked hurt from Shion's attitude and by what she said. How could Shion act this way to her older brother?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" She said regretfully. Shion got up and approached the screen door. "Either way, I'm still not going to their graves."

It was with that that she left the room.

-------------------------------------------

Later I followed Jr., chaos, and Jin into the room that had all the books and stood.

"Well, we'd better get going." Jr. said, referring to himself and I. "They're probably waiting for us, so I…"

Jr. and I walked over to the door, but turned around to face Jin.

"I'm very sorry you had to see that. It's a little embarrassing." Jin apologized.

"Oh, no, don't worry. Are you guys okay?"

"Hmph? Oh yes. We're still brother and sister, after all."

chaos turned to Jin.

"I'm sorry, but would you mind if I stayed here tonight?" chaos asked the older man. "Of course, I don't want to intrude."

"You're not intruding at all." Jin stated. "Please, you are welcome. Shion will be delighted you're staying."

"Well, it's all right with me." Jr. said to chaos. "MOMO isn't getting analyzed 'til tomorrow. Just come by then and we should be okay."

"I will. Thanks."

Jr. and I started making our way to the door, but before I left I turned to face Jin and bowed.

"Thank you for having us over, Mr. Uzuki." I said.

"Please, just call me Jin." He chuckled. "You don't have to be so formal."

It was with that that I left the house, finding Jr. waiting for me before we started walking.

------------------------------------

Jr. and I left the Uzuki Residence to look for a place to stay for the night. At the moment we were walking around Sector 1 of the city and it was interesting to see it a night with the lights glowing brightly in the dark. As I walked beside Jr. I noticed that he hand his hands in his pockets.

"Where exactly are we staying?" I asked.

Jr. looked up at me, his hands still in his pockets.

"At a hotel. It shouldn't be that hard to find." He answered.

And it wasn't that hard to find. We soon found a hotel and went inside to check in at the reception desk. A woman stood at the desk with a friendly smile on her face that reached her brown eyes, her dark hair shone in the lighting of the lobby.

"Hi, welcome to the Second Miltia Hotel. How may I help you?" She asked.

"We would liked to get a room, please." Jr. answered.

"How long do you two plan on staying?"

"Only for the night."

"Alright. Just let me get the key." she went over to the wall behind her and got a card. "Here you go. Your room is no. C57 on the third floor. Enjoy your stay."

"Thanks."

After paying we went over to the elevator and press 3. The door closed and it started to move up as faint music played in the background. There was soon a ding and the door opened to reveal the third floor and we got off. We made our way down the hall until we came to a door that had 'C57' written on it.

"This is it." I said, looking at the door.

"Yeah. Time to go in."

With that Jr. used the card to open the door. The door opened and we went inside to see that the room was nice, but it was what we found that surprised us.

"Only one bed?!" Jr. cried.

"_He said _'a room.' _This is awkward…_" I thought.

It was quiet for a while until Jr. spoke up.

"I'll sleep on the floor." My head shot in Jr.'s direction and shook my head.

"I don't want you to sleep on the floor, and I bet you don't want me to either. So how about we share the bed?"

"Share the bed?" He asked, starting to blush. Why was he blushing?

"Yeah. You get one half and I get the other."

------------------------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

"Besides, it's not like you're an adult." She said.

"_You have no idea how wrong you are, Ayame._" I thought as I listened to her.

"You're just a kid, so it doesn't matter."

I wanted so much as to tell her I wasn't a kid, but thought it would be wiser not to do so. Ayame didn't know that I was a 26 year old in the body of a 12 year old.

"_I guess ignorance being bliss can be a good thing sometimes._" I thought.

I started taking my red coat off (leaving me in my sleeveless red turtleneck sweater and thin long sleeved black shirt underneath it) along with my boots and holster with my Makarov(s). I turned in the direction Ayame was in to witness her taking off her loose white. socks (her white coat, arm warmers, holster, and shoes already off). She started to walk in the direction the bathroom was and turned to face me when she stopped in front of the door.

"I'm going to take a shower." She told me as if she were a kid telling her parent where she was going.

"Okay…"

Ayame gave me a smile before going into the bathroom, the door closing behind her. Not long afterwards did I hear water running and knew instantly that she was in the shower. I went over to the bed and sat down. Maybe I would take a shower after she came out. Speaking about showers…

"_I wonder if Ayame's enjoying her shower?_" My eyes widened when I realized what I was thinking and felt my face heat up. "_Dammit! Why am I thinking like that?1 I just hope Gaignun didn't hear that!_"

"_Looks like you're thinking about a certain someone._" Speak of the devil…

"_Gaignun! I can't believe you heard me talk about Ayame!_" I said telepathically.

"_Judging by what you said, I think you've developed feelings for her._" I could hear him chuckle.

"_It's not like that! You can't just judge my feelings on a single thought!_"

"_Believe what you want. If you found out that you do, that's when I'll say I told you so._"

"_Just shut up…_"

Just then I heard the water stop running and knew that Ayame was done with her shower. The door opened a little while later and Ayame came out fully clothed as she brushed her hair.

"Your turn, Jr." She said.

"Thanks."

Without a second thought I went into the bathroom. I was surprised when I saw a dry white towel folded neatly on the counter.

"_Ayame…_"

I started the shower and got in after stripping. It didn't take me long to finish my shower and I was soon done, putting my clothes back on after drying off. Once I was done, I left the bathroom expecting to find Ayame awake but I found that she was asleep on her half of the bed.

Just seeing how peaceful she looked as she slept reminded me of when we found her in the capsule she slept in. But she was sleeping in a natural sleep this time, not a forced one like she had been in. I couldn't help but smile.

"You could have at least stayed awake long enough to say good night. But something tells me that's what you tried to do."

I made my way over to my side of the bed and got under the covers myself, lying on my back with my hands resting underneath my head. I turned to look at Ayame once again and the smile came back to my lips as I felt an unknown warmth in my heart.

"Good night, Ayame…" I said quietly.

I turned my head and gazed at the ceiling as I started to feel my eyes droop close and fell asleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------

_I found myself in a dark void of nothing. I looked around to see if I could find anything, but of course there was nothing to find. Suddenly a bright white light appeared in front of me and on instinct I placed my arms in front of my eyes to block the light. When the light faded to a moderate I moved my arms away from my eyes only to have them widen at what I saw!_

_Floating in front of me was that girl I had seen when I was on the elevator of the Durandal and when we were confronting Albedo in order to save MOMO and Ayame._

"_It's…it's you…!" I said surprised._

_I watched as a gentile smile graced her lips as she floated down to the floor until she stood on it. When she had appeared to me those first two times, her glowing sky blue eyes were always pleading to me, but now she was smiling to the point that it reached her eyes._

"_Good to see you again, Rubedo." She said, in her familiar yet musical sounding voice._

"_H-how do you know my real name?!" My eyes widened as I looked at her._

"_Is it really that hard to figure out?"_

"_Am I supposed to know what that means?" I asked._

_She sighed at my response, but didn't seem irritated. In fact she was calm and appeared to be patient._

"_I'm and angel, Rubedo."_

"_An angel?1 You mean like the supernatural beings that are messengers to God?"_

"_Yes, that's what I am, and how I know your name."_

"_Then what's your message?" I asked. Why else would she be here?_

"_There is no message."_

_-------------------------------------------------------_

_(Ayame's POV)_

I woke up suddenly to find that it was still dark. I looked over at the clock to see the time, only to find that it was nowhere near morning yet.

I started to close my eyes in order to fall back asleep when I suddenly felt something wrap around my waist. My eyes shot open and I quickly looked down to see arms wrapped around my waist and felt myself heat up slightly. I turned my head to look behind me to find that Jr. was behind me and had his arms wrapped around me. I felt myself heat up again, only this time it was very warm.

"Jr.!" I whispered loudly. "Jr. wake up!"

Jr. didn't move or make a sound. Instead he remained asleep.

I looked back down at the arms around my waist when I thought of an idea. I brought my hands to where Jr.'s arms were and tried to pry them off. But when I tried to do so it caused Jr. to tighten his hold on me to the point that he pulled me into him and bury his face into my back. I couldn't help but suddenly feel warm from this. My back was facing him as we laid on our side (and as he held me like a stuffed bear).

I tried again to move away from him, but Jr. again pulled me into him, moaning in his sleep as his hold became iron-like and making me blush furiously.

"Jr." I tried again hoping he would wake up, but he still didn't wake up.

"_It's useless. He can't hear me. There's no point in trying to wake him or pry his arms off._" I thought.

I then noticed how warm he was as he held me. I glanced down at his hands and brought mine up to cover his warm hands, closing my eyes as I was engulfed by warmth and sleep.

---------------------------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

"_W-wha…?" I was confused. No message? "Then why are you here?"_

"_That's something I can't tell you." She said._

"_Then can you at least tell me who you are?"_

"_You already know me." She gave me a gentle smiled._

"_What do you mean?" I asked._

"_You'll soon see."_

_I was confused. What did she mean?_

"_I still don't get it! Could you at least give me a hint as to who you really are?" I asked the angel._

"_I suppose I could do that." She said. "All that I can tell you is that I'm closer to you than you think."_

"_Closer to me than I think…" I thought._

"_I have to go now, Rubedo. The next time we meet, you'll truly know who I am."_

-----------------------------------------------------

I could see the light of the sun behind my closed eyelids and instantly knew that it was morning. I opened my eyes slowly only to widen them when I found out that I was holding a sleeping Ayame from behind, my arms wrapped around her waist. I blushed when I felt her soft hands covering over mind and at the fact that I must've done this subconsciously while I slept, and quickly unwrapped my arms from around her and pulled them away in order to avoid feeling more awkward than I already was, my face feeling warmer than before. I gave Ayame more room by going back over to my side of the bed and sat crossed-legged, staring at my hands.

"_Why did I…?_" I thought.

I could hear Ayame moving and instantly knew that she was waking up. And just as I thought she did wake up, sitting up in bed looking slightly half asleep. After rubbing the sleep out of her blue eyes she turned to me and gave me a smile.

"Good morning, Jr." She said.

"G-good morning." I said stuttering.

"Did you sleep well?"

"_If by 'sleeping well' you mean somehow managing to get a hold of you while I wasn't conscious, then I suppose I did…_" I thought.

"Yeah…" I realized that we had to get to the U.M.N. Control Center for MOMO's analysis. "We gotta get going. MOMO and the others are probably waiting for us."

"That's right! Why did I forget something important?"

We quickly got the rest of our stuff on before leaving the room. We rode the elevator down to the lobby and returned the cardkey before leaving the hotel.

-----------------------------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

After Jr. returned the card to the receptionist we left the hotel. I followed Jr. (who was quickly walking) over to a place that had some tables in front of it while a person stood behind a counter that was outside and it turned out to be an outside restaurant. Jr. ordered something for both out us and was about to pay for it when I stopped him.

"I'll pay for it!" I said.

Jr. stopped what he was doing and looked up with me with a questioning look on his face.

"You'll pay for it?" He asked. "With what?"

I was about to open my mouth when I realized that he was right. I didn't have anything to pay for the food we were buying and looked at the ground feeling slightly embarrassed. Jr. then proceeded with paying for the food and we soon got the food after waiting for a few minutes. I was still looking at the ground when something was suddenly shoved in front of my face.

"Here."

I blinked to clear my head and saw that Jr. was holding out something that was wrapped in white paper in front of me. I stared at it for awhile before slowly taking it from his offering hand, giving my thanks to him. We then left the place and started making out way to the U.M.N. Control Center. Jr. ate his food hungrily as we walked while I held the warm object in my hand.

"I'm sorry…" I said.

Jr. swallowed the food that was in his mouth and looked up with my, confusion in his blue eyes.

"Why are you apologizing?" He asked.

"For saying I would pay for the food when I didn't even have any money to use."

"You're apologizing for that?! Don't go beating yourself up for that!"

He soon placed his hand on my upper arm.

"You just forgot that you didn't have any money, that's all." He then looked at the food that I held in my left hand. "Now, are you going to eat your food before it gets cold or not?"

I then looked at the food in my hand and realized that I was hungry.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot." I said.

Jr. sighed and shook his head.

"You even forgot that you had food in your hands. I don't want you to starve yourself, so eat it while it's still warm."

"Thank you."

I started to unwrap the food and found that it looked like a breakfast burrito (AN: think of the ones you get from McDonalds) and took a bite. I noticed how it tasted good and continued to eat it. I soon finished it when we had just arrived at the U.M.N. Control Center and we went inside.

* * *

ATE: And chap 4 is done! What did you all think? Now that I've finished writing this I can go write chap 5. Please Review. :)


	5. Chapter 5

I uploaded again for a reason. I hope that everyone enjoys it.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own the OCs in this story/series. The character Lilith is a design of my self-appointed editoress who wanted her own OC in this story.

* * *

Chapter 5

We rode the elevator up after coming in and entered the huge door that had U.M.N. over it. Inside we saw Gaignun, MOMO (wearing a new outfit with a beret), and Ziggy waiting. MOMO saw us and her golden eyes brightened in happiness.

"Jr., Ayame! It's so good to see you!" She said happily.

"It's good to see you too, MOMO." I saw, giving the Realian a hug which she returned.

"She should be arriving soon." Gaignun said, checking his watch.

"I'm surprised a Subcommittee specialist would personally get involved." Jr. said.

"That's just how important this is. Not just to the Subcommittee, but to her, too."

We heard the door open and MOMO's eyes brightened when she saw who it was.

"Mommy!" She said excitedly.

Juli Mizrahi walked into the room and over to where we all stood.

"It's been a while." She said.

"You're looking well, as always." Gaignun said.

"Allow me to thank you on behalf of the entire Subcommittee. We're very grateful for your help during the Proto Merkabah incident."

Ziggy took a quick glance at MOMO and then faced Juli Mizrahi again.

"We couldn't have done it without MOMO." Ziggy stated. "She was immensely helpful."

"I see. Thanks for your support, MOMO."

"Mommy!"

MOMO became excited, but it soon faded when Juli walked passed her and went over to Jr. and Gaignun.

"I'd like to organize the data if you could prepare a room for me, I'd appreciate it."

MOMO looked at Juli Mizrahi and, turning around to look at the floor as if rejected by the woman.

"Gladly." Jr. said, sounding slightly irritated.

Jr. looked at the ground as if he was down in the dumps. I think I could understand why and I assumed it was the way Juli just ignored MOMO.

"MOMO." She turned to the Realian.

"Yes?"

"Once things settle down, it'll be nice if we can live together."

MOMO looked up surprised but then smiled. Jr. and Juli left and went into a room, leaving the rest of us behind. Ziggy placed his left hand on MOMO's shoulder with satisfaction, causing her to look up.

"MOMO, that's great." He said.

"Uh huh!" MOMO had a smile on her face.

"MOMO, please come this way." Shelley said after coming into the room.

"Okay!"

MOMO, Ziggy, Gaignun, and I followed Shelley into another room.

---------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

I was in the data room with Juli Mizrahi, who was typing something on the console. Earlier I had found the way she had suddenly acted nice to MOMO so I went over to her.

"Doctor, what was that about?" I asked.

"What?" She asked.

"You know, acting nice to MOMO all of a sudden."

"Did it seem unnatural?" She stopped typing and turned to me. "I know that Joachim designed that Realian to be stimulated by familial warmth. In that case, fulfilling that need is a necessary part of my job in order to ensure that the examination proceeds smoothly." She went back to typing.

"Hmph. I should have known." I said bitterly, looking at the ground. Juli was about to leave, but I wouldn't let her go that easily. "You know, pretending to be cold and emotionless is only going to end up hurting you in the end."

She stopped walking and stood.

"That Realian was created by Joachim. And that frightens me."

"Look, I don't know what kind of person Joachim Mizrahi was. I don't even know what he was thinking when he created the 100-Series. But still, I made a promise to Sakura." I turned to her.

"To Sakura?" She looked at me surprised.

"So I'm going to treat MOMO like a real girl."

"What sort of promise?" She asked.

"She asked me to look after her mother and sister." I answered. When I didn't hear her say anything I took this chance to tell her. "Please doctor. I'd like you to smile again. I'm

sure that's what Sakura would want, too."

Suddenly the door opened and I saw that it was chaos that came in. Juli looked unhappy and left the room quickly.

"Did I interrupt something?" chaos asked.

"Nah, nothing like that." I answered. " Tell me, how's Shion? She all right?"

"I don't think there's anything to worry about. But that family does have issues."

"A complicated relationship, huh? Well, I certainly know what that's like."

"It looks like there's still time before the analysis starts. I wonder what the others are doing." chaos wondered.

"MOMO is already in the analysis room getting ready, Ziggy is…I think he was going to get maintenance on his body before the analysis starts."

We left the room and headed for the maintenance room that we knew Ziggy would be in. We stood at the door and listened to the conversation that was taking place inside.

"How do you feel?" Juli asked.

"Dr. Mizrahi?" The old man's intelligent answer was.

"MOMO asked me to do it. She said, 'Mommy, you're a famous scientist, so I bet you know all about cybernetic engineering.'"

"Ah, I'd prefer…"

"I'm not a young woman. Don't let it bother you." There was a pause. "A famous scientist? Perhaps, infamous is more appropriate."

"You seem to have difficulty dealing with MOMO. Why?" Ziggy asked.

"Could you love something that looked like your own daughter, but wasn't?"

"That is a difficult question."

"Merely creating something to look like my daughter won't bring back her soul. And with 100-Series Realians scattered all over this star cluster, they all serve as a constant reminder of her death."

"Was it your husband's idea to make the 100-Series look like her?"

"Yes." Another pause. "Do you have any children?"

"A son. He was a healthy intelligent boy. I lost him in an accident."

"I'm sorry. Is that why you committed suicide?"

"Yes, it is."

"Perhaps I, too, should have done the same when my daughter died. But instead of grief, my heart was filled with anger towards my husband."

How could Juli say that?!

"You seem to be a very strong person."

Juli sighed.

"No. I'm just stubborn."

"Dr. Mizrahi, this is just an idea, but why don't you imagine you had two daughters?"

Wow! The old man sure said something good! Why didn't I think of that?

"What do you mean?" Juli asked.

"One that passed away, and one that's still alive."

"So you think I should start treating MOMO like another daughter, instead of merely a copy of Sakura. You sure know how to pose a difficult challenge."

"Please consider it."

"I'll think about it. Well, I'd better go."

It was quiet again for a while

"Thank you for the maintenance."

"You're welcome."

Juli left the room through the door we were standing outside of.

"All right, you can come in now." Ziggy suddenly said. "I believe I told you eavesdropping wasn't very admirable."

"_Dammit! He knew we were here the whole time!_" I thought.

chaos and I walked into the room through the door and found Ziggy standing near the maintenance chair he had probably sat in.

"We weren't doing it on purpose." I said. "Still, I gotta say, old man, you are full of surprises."

"What do you mean?" The old man asked confused, walking over to us. "I'm not following what you're saying."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Anyway, isn't it about time for MOMO's analysis to begin? You can't afford to be standing around here, wasting your time."

"Oh, crap. We'd better get back."

"Let's go to the analysis room." chaos said.

We then left the maintenance room and proceeded to the analysis room MOMO would be in, along with Ayame. We then talked to the man (named Mauro) who stood in front of the door.

"I apologize for the wait." He said. "Preparations for the analysis are now complete. Are you ready?"

"Yeah." I said.

"Then please go in."

-----------------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

I stood looking out the large window that overlooked the area MOMO and Mary were in. Around me in the room were people and some 100-Series Realians typing at consoles as they got ready for the analysis. As I watched I soon heard the door open and turned around to see that Jr., chaos, and Ziggy came in.

"Hey, guys." I greeted them with a smile.

"How is everything?" Jr. asked.

"They about to begin MOMO's analysis. I told her to do her best earlier too."

"I'll go see MOMO." Ziggy said.

Ziggy left the room and a few minutes later we saw him walking from the door over to where MOMO and Mary were in the room beyond the window I was looking through. Mary was using a holographic console to get started with the analysis.

"Just relax, okay MOMO? This is just the initial preparation for the analysis." Mary said.

"Thank you. I'll do my best." MOMO said. The Realian looked at Ziggy and giggled. "You know, I'm a self-adjusting model. I've never had maintenance like this before. So, I guess this is what it feels like when you do it, Ziggy?"

MOMO started to float up and suddenly a blue sphere like field surrounded her.

"Don't worry. There's nothing to be afraid of." Ziggy said.

MOMO nodded to the cyborg.

"We will be shutting down your artificial personality layer during the analysis." A 100-Series Realian said. "Your artificial emotion and abstract cognitive functions will temporarily cease to function, but please do not be alarmed."

MOMO placed both of her hands on her heart.

"Artificial emotion?" MOMO asked.

"Since your artificial personality is an option for interpersonal interaction, this procedure will have no effect on your observational functions."

My eyes widened when I heard the Realian saw that. MOMO's personality and emotions were only an optional function?

"_That's…so horrible…_" I thought sadly.

"MOMO…" Ziggy said.

MOMO reached her hand out to Ziggy, the cyborg seeming to do the same.

"Personality Sleep Mode activated. Shutting down."

Suddenly MOMO shut down, her body seeming to go limp and a unhappy look appeared on Ziggy's face. I felt sad as I watched all this happen.

While we watched Helmer and Gaignun had joined up in order to observe the progress. At the time Shelley was typing at the console.

"So, how is it going?" Helmer asked.

"They're having a pretty hard time preparing for MOMO's analysis." Mary answered. "As is the protection on her wasn't complex enough, some of her routes were damaged in that last hacking attempt."

"I see." Jr. said. "So her personality layer is deactivated."

"Yeah, it's kinda painful, like we're doing something terrible to her. It reminds me of when we were on Old Miltia, kept on constant meds. I felt totally empty inside then. I really hated it."

"Yeah…"

"We humans might be shameless at times, but that's still how we feel. I think if someone told me that my heart was just a fake, I'd really be hurt."

It was quiet for a while.

"Even our hearts might be nothing more than playthings created by god." Jr. turned around and started walking away.

"Little Master, are you sure you don't want to be here?" Shelley asked.

"I can't watch. I'm scared." He sounded frightened.

"Little Master…"

"I'm a…coward."

Jr. walked out of the room and I couldn't help but feel sad as I watched.

"_Jr.…._" I thought.

I wondered if I should go after him or not, but eventually I chose to go after Jr. and started walking to the door.

"Where are you going, Ayame?" chaos asked.

I stopped and turned to face chaos.

"I'm going to see if Jr.'s alright." I answered.

I then left through the door. Once outside the room I didn't see Jr. anywhere and wonder where he could be. I started walking and soon noticed a woman leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

The woman appeared to be at the age of 26 with short black hair with silver highlights that reached halfway past her neck, that had a chocker. I couldn't see what color her eyes were since they were closed. She wore a black shirt that had a square opening (it looked sleeveless with another part of the sleeves coming off her shoulder) with a short sleeved green shirt underneath it and her stomach showed. She wore black pants with a dark belt along with chains handing from the belt loops on each side with dark shoes. On her upper left arm was a chain that she wore as a armlet and on both hands were fingerless leather black gloves.

"Excuse me. Did you see a little boy come by here?" I asked, approaching the woman.

The woman lifted her head and looked at me, her deep green eyes staring at me seriously.

"Little boy? Short, red-haired, blue-eyed, and carrying guns?" She asked, her voice mysterious sounding.

"Yes, that's him. Have you seen him?"

"I have. He went into that room over there." She pointed to the door not too far from us on the wall she was leaning on.

"Thank you, uh…?"

"It's Lilith." She said.

"Thank you, Lilith. I'm Ayame. Nice to meet."

"Sure thing." She closed her eyes and waved her hand in a lazy sort of fashion.

I went to the door where she told me Jr. went through. And just as Lilith had said Jr. was in the room through the door, facing the wall ahead of him, his back facing me from where I stood at the door with his head hanging. In the room were consoles, there screens glowing a fade blue.

"_Jr.…_" I thought suddenly feeling sad.

I walked into the room a little bit but stopped, hanging my head with my eyes looking at the floor. Maybe he didn't want me here…

"Ayame…" I heard him say somewhat sad/scared.

I lifted my head and stared at the back of Jr.'s head for a while, wondering what I should do. When I finally made up my mind I continued to walk over to him until I was right behind him and wrapped my arms around him, letting him know I was here. We were both quiet and I guessed it must have been a good thing.

"I'm a coward, aren't I…?" He suddenly asked.

"No." I answered while holding him a little tighter. "You're no coward. You're the bravest person I know."

I had told him the same words when I had givec him breakfast after he had waken up from the nightmare he had. It was after the day I had awaken from the capsule and when we had met Shion, Allen, KOS-MOS, chaos, Ziggy, and MOMO after we had help them take care of the Gnosis.

"But…I'm scared that something might happen to MOMO…"

"If it makes you feel better I'll admit that I'm scared as well. But then I know everything's going to be alright in the end and we'll take MOMO somewhere really fun afterwards."

"…You're right. Thank you, Ayame." He said. "It's a good thing to know that I'm not the only one who's scared." I unwrapped my arms from around him and he turned to face me. "By the way, how did you know I was in this room?"

"I didn't." I said. "Lilith told me."

Jr. looked at me with a puzzled look on his face.

"Lilith…? Who's that?" He asked confused.

"A new friend I met. She's really nice!"

"A new friend, huh?"

"If we ever see her again, I'll introduce you to her!" I said excitedly.

I saw that a small smile came on Jr.'s face.

"Well, if you say she's nice then I wouldn't mind meeting her."

Suddenly an alarm went off and we looked up at the ceiling.

"MOMO!" Jr. yelled.

Jr. ran out the door and I followed him into the room that overlooked the analysis to find that 100-Series Realians were collapsing and the words 'warning' appeared on all screens as the alarm went off. The once blue sphere like field around MOMO was now red.

"This can't…" Juli said surprised.

"Interference is manifesting from unobservable space." One of the male U.M.N. Staff said.

"Barrier logic destruction, 68%. Emergency cutoff! Cutoff refused! A terminal has been opened to the U.M.N. network. Unable to determine the intrusion route!" A Female Staff said.

"Multiple axon connections advancing within the subconscious domain. A large-scale holographic network is being established!"

Juli Mizrahi gasped from what she saw and suddenly stood up from her chair.

"Dr. Mizrahi, what's happening?" Ziggy asked.

"No wonder we didn't find anything, we were analyzing each system separately. Each layer itself is a low-resolution fragment, like scattered bits of memories. It's only when they all become active at once that the whole image comes together. Joachim's pulled off a grand tromp l'oeil." Juli turned to the other U.M.N. staff. "Try the cutoff again. Reestablish defensive logic against the eternal hack attempt."

"Right. Attempting to restart defensive logic." A female staff said. The U.M.N. staff tried the restart of defensive logic. "Denied!"

"MOMO!" Ziggy cried.

"MOMO!" Mary cried.

"I'm…sorry… I…didn't know…" MOMO said.

"No! This is…" Gaignun suddenly said.

"There's a self-expanding trap in there. This isn't one of Joachim's designs." Juli said. "It's something recent—probably planted during the intrusion of the Song of Nephilim."

"This is Albedo's work."

"20 seconds to defense logic failure." The female staff said. Juli Mizrahi moved the U.M.N. staff out of her seat and started using the console. "We're running the risk of complete data leakage."

"What are you doing, Dr. Mizrahi?" Ziggy asked, coming over to where Juli was.

"I'm using the emergency control code and destroying the data." Juli answered.

"You can't! If you do that, MOMO will…"

She turned to Ziggy.

"You have a better idea? We cannot allow the Y-Data to fall into the enemy's hand, under any circumstance!"

"Dr. Mizrahi!"

Juli Mizrahi was about to press the red button but looked like she was struggling on whether to press it or not. "MOMO…" It was with that that she refrained from pressing it.

"Dr. Mizrahi! The holographic network has begun to disrupt! The expanded data is disappearing!" The Male U.M.N. staff said.

"What? But I didn't…"

Suddenly, the monitors that were red scrambled screens showed a warning.

"What's going on?" Ziggy cried.

"It's MOMO. She's cutting her own neural pathways, to disperse her memory! She's destroying her own mind to protect the data that Joachim entrusted to her."

"What?"

"MOMO!" Juli cried.

The red field around MOMO emitted a bright light and the Realian fell to the floor unconscious.

"The 100-Series Prototype has shut down!" Mary said.

Ziggy and Juli Mizrahi ran through the door and into the room where MOMO and Mary were in.

"MOMO!" They both cried.

Ziggy and Juli Mizrahi were checking on the unconscious MOMO. I stared wide-eyed as I watched all of this happen.

"_MOMO…!_" I thought.

Suddenly, all the monitors started to change one by one and I wondered what was going on.

"So… I trust you liked my gift?"

"_That voice!_"

Suddenly the monitors showed Albedo on them and I instantly felt dread.

"Albedo!" Gaignun growled.

"Looks like ma péche managed to protect Mizrahi's legacy with her own body. How very brave. However, no matter how charming, in the end she's nothing more than a puppet. A puppet waiting for a miracle to make her human, believing all of Mizrahi's rubbish…" Albedo said mockingly.

"What? A puppet?" Ziggy cried.

Albedo started laughing maniacally. I felt myself shaking as that laughed brought some many bad memories to my mind, but to my relief it eventually ended along with my shaking. I looked through the window and saw that Juli was giving MOMO CPR, desperately trying to revive her.

"Dr. Mizrahi, is she…" Ziggy began.

"It's all right." Juli said. "I won't let her die. Injecting nanounit restoration. Ready twelve-device-activator."

Mary rushed to get ready for the twelve-device-activator and Ziggy seemed to stare at MOMO, not saying a word.

"This time…I will save her. I swear it!" Juli was desperately giving MOMO CPR now.

-----------------------------------------

Later Jr. and Helmer had contacted Shion and Allen, who were at the Vector Second Division, their communication monitor floating in front of them. They explained what had happened to MOMO and they were surprised. At the time Ziggy and chaos were with us.

"Oh no. Poor MOMO." Shion said.

"I'm so sorry." Jr. said sadly. "We were right there and we still let this happen to her."

"Her basic functions have recovered. Though she avoided death, her neural network, the rough equivalent of her brain, has been completely shattered to pieces." Helmer said. "We need the expertise of Vector's Third Division if we stand any chance of recovering the Y-Data. This crisis isn't just Second Miltia's problem anymore. On behalf of the entire government, I am hereby requesting your official assistance."

"MOMO… All this to protect her father's wishes." Shion said. "Very well. We would be honored to assist you. Besides, MOMO is a close friend."

The communication monitor with Shion and Allen shut off. I continued to stare out the window at where MOMO was and I couldn't help but be worried about her. Why did something I this have to happen?

"_MOMO…_" I thought.

Later the door opened and I turned around to see that Shion and Allen arrived. Jr. was surprised when he saw them come into the room.

"Shion! I thought we were getting someone from the Third Division." He said. "This is outside of First Division's jurisdiction, isn't it?"

"Yes. Normally the Third Division would have sent someone, but we were closer. It's just easier for me to take care of it." Shion said. "Besides, I've already had everything we need transported over. Don't worry, we've got the technical side covered. You can relax."

Allen walked up to Shion.

"Honestly, Chief, you're so stubborn. You know, you're gonna have a hard time with the Third Division later." Allen stated.

"Yet, in spite of that, Allen, you're still right here helping." chaos said.

"What? Ah…well…I can't leave it all to the Chief, now can I?"

The camera views MOMO floating in a blue field.

"Jr., we want to save MOMO, too. Or, do you think Allen and I aren't reliable enough?" Shion asked.

"No, no. Well, I don't know about Allen, but I'm glad you're here, Shion." Jr. said.

"Hey!" Allen cried. "What is that supposed to—"

"We're short on time. As soon as you're ready, let's go."

"Right." The dark-haired woman said.

"Is everyone ready to dive?" Allen asked. "MOMO's subconscious domain is likely in a highly unstable state. I don't know what dangers you may face, so you should make sure you're well prepared. As soon as you're ready, I'll begin the dive. I'll wait here, so just let me know."

I walked over to Jr.

"Jr. I would like to come as well." I said.

"Huh?" Jr. looked up at me with a puzzled look.

"MOMO is my friend too and I want to help. Please take me with you."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes." I nodded my head.

"Hmm…" He looked to be in deep thought before he looked up at me. "I suppose you could come."

"Thank you."

"If there're no problems, I'll commence the dive. Are you ready?" Allen asked.

"We're ready!" Shion told him.

"All right! Then I'll initiate the dive."

We went into the room that MOMO was in (the field around her turned back to blue earlier) and stood around the Realian in a circle.

"The dive subjects for this operation will be the Chief, Jr., chaos, Ziggy and Ayame." Allen said, speaking through communication for the room. "I've also arranged for KOS-MOS' data to be simultaneously transmitted from Second Division into the Encephalon. I'm sure having her around will be reassuring."

"That's good thinking, Allen." Shion commented.

"Our dive target is MOMO Mizrahi's subconscious domain, which is modeled after Sakura Mizrahi's memories. Like the dive into KOS-MOS' Encephalon, there is a possibility of resonant memory playbacks with those who've closely shared time and space with her."

"This time, that'd be me."

"Jr.?" Shion asked.

"Dr. Mizrahi told me that Sakura suffered from a central nervous system disorder." Ziggy stated. "Did you have contact with her?"

"I did." Jr. answered. "The going theory was that Sakura's symptoms were somehow connected to unusual wave pulse within the U.M.N. She was being attended to at the Yuriev Institute, where her treatment was also a part of the U.R.T.V.s' U.M.N. link training."

"Sakura, the girl MOMO was modeled after?" Shion asked.

"I'd like to ask you something. What is U-DO, exactly? Why were you U.R.T.V.s created? To fight it?" Ziggy asked.

"U-DO is the Unus-Mundus Drive Operation system." Jr. explained. "From the name, it might sound like some U.M.N. control A.I., but that thing was not created by human hands."

"Yes. That thing…that's no A.I. Nothing that simple could have created a space-time anomaly." Shion stated.

"Exactly. They just picked the name because it sounded good. At that, they tried to make us believe it, too. They said it was an artificial consciousness within the U.M.N. that was carrying some kind of dangerous waves. But that was a total lie. Our father, Dmitri Yuriev, knew about it from the start."

----------------------------------------------------

_In Jr.'s memory, a bunch of standard U.R.T.V. stood in a circle formation along with Rubedo, Albedo and Nigredo, all of them wearing the same white and blue uniform. Albedo was holding Rubedo's right hand, shaking in fear. Suddenly there was a bright reddish light emitting from the pit and all the U.R.T.V.s (except Albedo) held their right hand up._

"_All right, open spiritual link." Rubedo commanded. "All U.R.T.V.s match your individual waves to mine." Rubedo looked to Albedo and saw that he was still holding his hand, so he forced him to face his right hand towards the bright light under the pit. "Here it comes."_

_The U.R.T.V.s begins the linking process. Suddenly blast waves appeared towards the light circle where the U.R.T.V.s where. Albedo cried out in fright when on of the waves hit the side of the circle where he and Rubedo were in and shook._

"_I'm scared, Rubedo." Albedo said frightened. "Don't let go of my hand."_

"_Concentrate, Albedo." Rubedo reinsured. "Just do it like in training and you'll be fine." Suddenly, a spark can be seen erupted from the light circle and Rubedo got tensed up wide-eyed. He then saw the planet Miltia having something come out of it and was destroyed. Rubedo gained his senses. "What the…" He let his right hand fall away from the circle and started backing away from it.._

"_Rubedo?" Nigredo asked looking at him._

"_Emergency cutoff! Shutting down spiritual link!" All of the U.R.T.V.s gasped looking towards Rubedo with shocked looks on their faces, Albedo looking at his older brother in fear. "I know what I'm doing. Even though we think of them as mental waves, the resulting anti-particle collision with us will be converted directly into thermal energy. Dad knew everything. That bastard!"_

"_The link is already complete. We can't stop it." Nigredo stated._

_Rubedo tried to back away from the light circle, trying to pull his hand away from Albedo, only to have him hold on tighter to the red-head._

"_No! Rubedo, don't let go!" Albedo cried scared._

"_No, I'm cutting the link."_

_Tears of fear started coming out of Albedo's eyes as he tried to hold onto his brother._

"_Don't let go!"_

_Rubedo kept trying to pull his hand away and eventually let go of Albedo. Suddenly, something terrible is happening and the circle disappeared, blast waves suddenly hitting all of the U.R.T.V.s except Nigredo, Rubedo and Albedo. Albedo looked back and his eyes widened when he saw another blast wave appear near him and struck him like a snake, causing white-haired U.R.T.V. to scream in horror._

-----------------------------------

Jr. looked down at the ground.

"So what is it?" Ziggy asked.

"It's an energy from a higher dimension." Jr. answered. "An entity humans couldn't possibly control. It's ironic that we U.R.T.V.s are its anti-existence, and yet we were never told what it really is."

"U-DO…" Shion said quietly.

* * *

ATE: Finished! Now instances that have be uploading more than one chap a day for a single story are going to be rare just to let my readers know. I only made the exception due to Dualist of Dawn.

Please Review! :)


	6. Chapter 6

ATE: I've uploaded again. I'm thinking of uploaded another chap some time after this one as I write chap 8 (yes, I've already wrote chap 7, staying up til 1:11 am and waking up at 9:36. If I keep this up I may end up sleep deprived) but I know for certain that my self-appointed editoress is going to be in for a BIG surprise when she gets back from Mexico and will be reviewing like crazy. Anyways enjoy the chap.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only on the OCs, while my self-appointed editoress owns the OC Lilith.

* * *

Chapter 6

We soon stood in a circle around MOMO while holding red Encephalon diving glasses. I remembered when Shion had wore them before when we did a dive into KOS-MOS.

"Encephalon construction complete. We can open the interconnection at any time now." Allen said.

"Okay, go ahead." Shion said.

"All right everyone, just relax and enjoy the trip. And don't worry, I'm a pro at this."

We all placed the red Encephalon diving glasses on. They felt weird yet comfortable while I wore my pair.

"He's right. We're in good hands."

There was a announcement voice that was making announcements about our dive.

"KOS-MOS data transfer confirmed. Initiating reconstruction. All preparations for direct approach complete."

"All right. Let's go." Jr. said.

There was a bright light and suddenly the floor felt like it was gone and I started to feel slightly dizzy. The sensation soon stopped and I opened my eyes to see that we were standing outside a nice looking house, with the addition of KOS-MOS.

"_The dive was successful._" I thought.

"Where are we?" Ziggy asked.

"The world inside MOMO's subconscious domain. Sakura's inner world." Jr. looked somewhere and his eyes widened. "MOMO!" I looked in the direction Jr. was looking in and saw MOMO sitting on a bench on the porch of the house. Jr. approached her and I followed him. "MOMO, you're okay! Hey, can't you hear me? Say something!"

"It's no use, Jr. She's not going to answer." Shion said who was now standing next to us.

"She can't hear us?" I asked.

"Why not?!" Jr. asked. "She's right there in front of us!"

"Her personality layer is off-line. Plus, her neural network's completely fragmented. She can't understand anything we say. She may not be able to even hear us right now."

"No. Dammit!"

"The MOMO you're seeing here is nothing more than a product of her own subconscious. Even if she were able to take some sort of action, it would only be a simple reflex. MOMO…Even in her current state, she's still trying so hard to help us."

Ziggy walked up the stairs and now stood on the porch.

"What are you doing? We don't have much time. So you want to worry MOMO even more?" Ziggy asked.

"Right." Jr. said. "MOMO…just hang on a little bit longer." We all walked up the steps and Jr. walked over to MOMO. "Come on, MOMO, let's go. I swear I'll always keep you safe."

We all walked into the house and found ourselves in what appeared to be a living room. As everyone looked around the room I noticed a small table with a drawer along with a old fashion telephone sitting on top of it. I walked over to it and open the drawer to find a jewelry box decorated with pretty seashells. I opened it to hear a music coming out of it.

"What a pretty song…" I said as I listened to the music.

"C'mon, Ayame."

I turned to see Jr. and the others stood at the foot of the stairs. I closed the lid of the jewelry bow along with the drawer and proceeded going upstairs. At the top we found a door opened and we looked inside to see that it was a bedroom. The room was normal sized with a closet door in the corner and a stuffed Bunny doll nearby. There was a bed with a girl with shoulder-length brown hair sleeping peacefully.

"_She looks like…!_" I thought.

"Is that…MOMO?" Shion asked.

"No…" Ziggy replied.

"It's Sakura." Jr. stated.

"_So that's Sakura. She really does look like MOMO._"

"Rubedo…it's all dark." I suddenly heard. It sounded like a boy.

"It's kinda cramped in here." Another voice said.

"I know!" A familiar voice said. "Just shut up for a second, will ya?"

"_Where are those voices coming from?_"

"I'm scared. Turn the light on!" The first voice said.

"_Turn the_ _light on?_"

We suddenly heard the sound of something lightly hitting something wooded and I looked in the direction of the closet. The three voices were inside the closet!

"Cut it out! Quit movin' around so much… Ow!" The familiar voice said.

"Quit pushing, stupid!" The second voice said.

Suddenly the closet door burst opened and three boys bunched up on each other fell out of the closet. My eyes widened when I saw their faces! I immediately recognized Jr. (who looked the same as the one who stood next to me), along with what looked like a young Albedo and Gaignun and they all wore the same blue and white uniform. I glanced at Jr. who stood next to me and back at the other boy that looked like him. Was that Jr. as well?

"_What's going on?!_" I thought confused.

The three boys got up from the ground and looked around the room.

"What is this place?" The other Jr.(?) asked.

"We must've messed up the connection coordinates." The boy that looked like Albedo said.

"Albedo, you stepped on my foot in there!"

"Huh? I did not!" The white-haired boy argued.

Shion sigh loudly in confusion.

"Uh-huh. That's us fourteen years ago." Jr. said.

"_Fourteen years ago?_"_ I looked at Jr. _"_But…Jr. looks the same as the other one! Shouldn't he be…?_"

"It wasn't me! It must've been Nigredo!" Albedo argued.

"No way! That was your foot!" The past Jr. replied back.

"I did not!"

"No way! That was _your_ foot" Past Jr. insisted.

As this happened, Gaignun (Nigredo?) looked at Sakura, who was still asleep in the bed.

"That girl is our contact target." Nigredo stated. "The coordinates were correct."

Just then Sakura woke up and sat up in her bed looking at the three boys. I then noticed that she was wearing a white dress.

"That girl…she's looking at us?" Albedo cried.

Sakura continued looking at the three boys without saying a word.

"I…I'm sorry!" Past Jr. suddenly said.

"Ah, you guys…" Sakura said.

The three boys tried to get out through the closet, the past Jr. trying to push Albedo and Nigredo inside.

"Next time, we'll come in through the door."

"Wait!"

They suddenly stopped and looked at her confused.

"Huh?!" They said simultaneously.

"You guys… You can hear what I'm saying?" She asked.

Past Jr., Albedo and Nigredo nodded their head and there was a pause as Sakura looked at the sheets our her bed.

"I'm…I'm so happy you came." A tear came out of her right eye and I instantly knew that they were tears of joy. The three boys approached her.

The flashback ended and we left the room only to see three phantom images of past Jr., Albedo, and Nigredo run down the hallway and down the stairs. We followed them down the stairs only to find that Albedo was the last to leave the house through the door and we continued to follow them. By the time we got out the door, we saw the three boys go through a circle of light on the ground not to far from the house.

We all stepped on it and a bright light appeared, only to soon fade away and we found ourselves standing in a room that had people typing at consoles and a window in front of us that overlooked a room with what appeared to be pods of some sort inside. I noticed that two people walking into the room beyond the window, a man with blonde hair and a woman with dark hair talking to each other. I noticed that the woman was Juli Mizrahi from fourteen years ago, but who was the man?

"Dmitri. Are you sure those boys are going to be able to help with Sakura's treatment?" Juli asked.

"I don't believe the condition your daughter suffers from is a mere natural disorder." The man, who must've been Dmitri Yuriev said. "Therefore, contact with the anti-U-DO waveforms within the U.R.T.V.s will be beneficial for her."

"Hypersensitivity to the synchronicity of the U.M.N. We never had diseases like that when the universe was still small."

A buzzer suddenly went off.

"U.M.N. dive operation." A voice of a woman said over the speakers. "Phase six complete. U.R.T.V. team commencing dive-out, starting from number 660. Now opening dive-pods."

Suddenly the dive-pods that had past Jr., Albedo, and Nigredo in the opened and the past Jr. suddenly sat up after awakening sounding like he was coughing. He turned around and upon seeing Juli turned around.

"That girl…" He began. "That girl gave me a message. She said, 'Please tell my mother… Please tell my mother that I love her.' What else… She said, 'I got a seashell treasure box for my birthday last year. If you tell my mother that she'll understand.'"

Juli was surprised at what he said and approached past Jr.

"So, the wavelengths matched up…" Yuriev noted.

"You were able to talk to Sakura?" Juli asked.

Past Jr. stood up and nodded his head.

"So, what's your name?"

Past Jr. jumped off the dive-pod and stood in front of Juli.

"Rubedo. Uh…I mean…" He noticed his mistake. "U.R.T.V. unit number 666."

"_His name's Rubedo?!_" I thought surprised. "_Would that explain why the present Albedo calls him that?_"

Juli Mizrahi knelt down in front Rubedo and held his right hand with both of her hands.

"Rubedo." Juli said. "Please keep telling me the things she says, all right?"

There was a brief pause before he spoke.

"Yes, ma'am!"

As I continued to look through the glass window and couldn't help but suddenly feel weird.

"Mom…" Shion quietly said.

The flashback ended, and we all turned to Jr. It was strange, but the people in the room didn't seem to notice us.

"What is this place?" Shion asked.

"The Yuriev Institute. It's the U.R.T.V. development facility." Jr. answered. "The place where I was made."

"_Jr.…was made here…?_" I thought.

"It feels strange, like time has stopped. The people here can't see us?"

"Yeah, looks like it. This place is frozen in time at a point when Sakura was alive. But why here? How do we save MOMO?"

"Hmm. It would seem that those three phantoms are the key. They look like they're leading us somewhere." Ziggy said.

"Right, we don't have time to wander around. Let's go look for them." Shion said.

We left the room that we were in, but once we came out we saw the three phantoms leave the building through the door ahead of them. We followed them outside and saw them running down the path to our right and continued our pursuit, running after them through a weird path that had giant glowing rings surrounding the path. We eventually came to a window, where we saw Rubedo (Jr.'s past self) looking through a window watching Sakura playing a beautiful song on a piano with Juli Mizrahi sitting next to her.

"Sakura…" Rubedo said as he watched Sakura continue to play her piano, her green eyes focused on the piece she was playing. "She really can't talk in this world."

"That's right. The neural pathways that recognize the outside world and allow her to express herself have been completely severed." Juli explained, looking up at him. "Her electric potential pulse control was determined to be instable, but neither medicine nor nanomachine-based Glilial supplements had any effect."

"It's weird that restoring her membrane electrical potential didn't do anything."

"Yes… But now your waveform, the particular wavelength you possess, is making up for her deficiency."

Suddenly the scene changed and we all saw the house we had seen earlier, Sakura and Rubedo sat on the bench talking to each other.

"I hear my dad is researching treatment for me, too." Sakura said. "He's making a Realian that's a lot like a human, and he's gonna make it so my senses are always linked up with it. That way, I won't have to make my mom sad anymore."

"Sakura, you sure have nice parents." Rubedo said.

"What about you? Your dad is Dr. Yuriev, right?" Rubedo looked away, looking somewhat sad as he started at the floor. "Don't you have a mom?"

"Yeah, we have one." Rubedo pulled his left leg up so that it was against while he rested his head on his left arm that was wrapped around it. "Genetically speaking, anyway. She had a healthy ovum with a perfect set of chromosomes. That's all we really know about her."

"How come you're not looking for her? Don't you wanna meet her?"

"What's the point?" He asked looking upset. "So I can say, 'Hi! You're the mother of a bunch of genetically engineered bioweapons'?"

Sakura placed her left hand on Rubedo's right shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"Don't say that. You're not a weapon. You're a wonderful boy."

Rubedo buried his face deeper into his arm.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, sounding slightly angry. "The only time we can leave the Institute is when there's a war going on."

It was quiet between the two until Sakura spoke up.

"Hey, Rubedo. I have a favor to ask of you." Rubedo slowly lifted his head up from his arm and looked at Sakura. "My little sister is gonna be born soon. She's kind of different from a normal sister. I mean, my mom won't be giving birth to her, but… My mother and sister… I want you to look after them for me, okay?"

Rubedo smiled and looked like he was about to be happy.

"Okay! If she's your sister, I'll look after her like she was my own!" He said.

"You promise?" She asked.

"Of course! Leave it to me—" Rubedo was about to finish his sentence when Sakura suddenly kissed him on his right cheek, causing his eyes to widen in surprised as she got up from the bench and opened the front door.

"Good night, Rubedo. See you tomorrow."

Sakura waved before she closed the door behind her and went inside the house. Rubedo waved goodbye, but he held his right cheek and felt like something wasn't right from when Sakura kissed him.

The image faded and we found ourselves back in the Institute where we saw the three phantoms run through the path we had followed them through earlier. As we followed them, I couldn't help but remember something. When I had saw Sakura kiss Rubedo I had suddenly feel a mixture of being sad and angry, yet I wasn't angry at the same time.

"_Why…do I feel this way…?_" I thought confused.

"Ayame, is something wrong?"

I looked at Jr. feeling confused.

"What?" I asked. Did I hear right?

"I asked you if something was wrong." He repeated.

"Uh…no. There's nothing wrong."

Jr. gave me a puzzled look.

"Okay, if you say so."

We continued to follow the three phantoms into the courtyard where we saw Rubedo throwing a harmonica into the air and caught it, Nigredo and Albedo with him, the latter standing behind his black-haired brother.

"So, you practice along with her piano. If you're that interested in her, why don't you just stay there in virtual space?" Nigredo asked. "I'm sure she'd like that, too."

"It's not like that." Rubedo said, putting his hands on his hips.

"Your concentration's been slipping lately, Rubedo." Albedo said, sticking his head out from behind Nigredo. "It's almost time for our training in the U-DO simulator. You know that, right?"

"Hey, I know all about it. I'm the link master. I'll fulfill the mission."

Albedo came out from hiding behind Nigredo and looked at Rubedo.

"I can trust you, right? As long as you're here, I don't have to be afraid of U-DO, right?"

"Of course! Pull yourself together! We're the variants. Your waveform's way beyond a standard U.R.T.V."

Albedo looked at the ground and started to cry, both Rubedo and Nigredo looking at him with puzzled looks. The red-head approached Albedo and Nigredo as he and the latter tried to comfort their white-haired brother.

The flashback soon ended and the three phantoms ran into the building. We followed them inside and through a door, where we saw another flashback. This time Rubedo, Albedo and Nigredo faced two female U.R.T.V.s. One of the girls had short orange hair that came to the bottom of her ears with hazel colored eyes. The other girl had black hair with silver highlights that reached halfway past her neck with deep green eyes and they both wore female versions of the U.R.T.V. uniforms.

"_That other girl looks like a younger version of Lilith._" I thought.

"Please to meet you, number 666 Rubedo. I am U.R.T.V. number 668. You may call me Citrine." The orange-haired girl said.

"I am U.R.T.V. number 670 and you can call me Argenta." The black-hair silver-highlighted girl said.

"668 and 670? …I've never seen a female type before!" Rubedo said surprised.

"Don't be so surprised. The original fertilized eggs had both X and Y stock. Number 670 and I are X-type, designed to preserve the egg's mtDNA." Citrine said. "We'd be in trouble if the project has a dead end with nothing but just you simple Y-types."

"I'd heard there was a girls' ward somewhere." Albedo said.

"I thought the missing numbers were dead." Nigredo said.

"It's certainly true that a lot of units were disposed of." The orange-haired girl stated. "Unlike you male types, we have only nine female types remaining. It's a shame because theoretically, we are superior."

"Disposed of? Who do you think you are?" Rubedo asked.

"And just who do you think you are, Rubedo?" Citrine turned her head to look at Rubedo. "We aren't normal children, you know. Even if we lost control of our waveform and died, we wouldn't have the luxury of complaining about it."

The flashback had soon ended and we left the room and followed the three phantoms into the room where the dive-pods were.

* * *

ATE: That's chap 6 for you. Who is U.R.T.V. number 670 Argenta, you ask? I'll explain where the name came from.

Argenta is a (feminine?) form of the latin word Argentium, which means 'silver'. As you have already read, Argenta has silver highlights in her hair, hence her name.

Please Review! :)


	7. Chapter 7

ATE: I've uploaded again because I wanted to get all the events that happen in disc one out of the way before I went to the Camen Islands. At the moment, I'm almost done with chap 8 now (only a few more sentences and we're good) Thank you Dualist of Dawn for reviewing every chap so far. It really really really really really really really makes me happy to know someone likes it.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. Only own the OCs, while my self-appointed editoress owns Lilith.

* * *

Chapter 7

Inside the dive-capsule room of Yuriev Institute, Rubedo, Albedo and Nigredo were inside the dive-capsules, facing a series of the other U.R.T.V.s

"I can't stand them." Albedo said bitterly.

"Shhh." Nigredo shushed him.

"Just look at them. They don't even have wills of their own. All of them together just form one collective consciousness. Why is everyone up to 665 like that?"

"The standard types have weak anti-waveforms." Rubedo explained. "It's not their fault they were born that way."

Albedo looked at his red-haired brother and then back at the standard blonde U.R.T.V.s in the capsules across from them.

"Eww, yuck."

We suddenly heard a signal ring break the quietness.

"This is not a drill. You will initiate a U.M.N. dive into the subconscious domain of the sleeping patient and repair her sensory impairment." Yuriev said through a speaker. "This mission will also serve as valuable anti-U-DO training for you."

"Your descent target is a white beach." Juli explained. "This beach is a subjective image created by the patient that exists below her consciousness. Within it lies whatever is obstructing her neural connection. We want you to identify and eliminate it."

It was quiet for a while.

"The beach?!" Rubedo said excitedly, his blue eyes wide.

"I've never been to the beach!" Albedo was just as excited as his red-haired brother.

"We'll definitely have to go sometime!" Nigredo said.

Rubedo and Albedo extended their left arm with their left fist up and lowers the arm down a little as expression of "all right!" on their faces. Rubedo looked away from Albedo after they had expressed their excitement only to gasp quietly in surprised, spooked at how the standard U.R.T.V. were looking at him oddly.

"_Why? Why are you the leader, number 666?_"One of them asked.

"_You're a variant…_"Another one said. "_You're a monster!_"

Rubedo looked down at the palm of his right hand seeing the number "666" on it in red, suddenly looking worried.

"_Shut up, you losers! Don't make fun of Rubedo! Your power doesn't even come close to his!_"Albedo yelled angrily.

It was quiet as Albedo glared at the standards.

"_That's enough, Albedo_." Nigredo said, trying to calm his brother. "_They're not our enemies_." He looked at Rubedo. "_It's all right, Rubedo. We both believe in you_."

The dive-capsules began activation, tilting backwards. Despite his capsule moving, Rubedo continued looking at his right hand until his blue eyes widen, a device of some sort connecting with the back of his neck being the cause.

The sensation that I had felt when we had teleported to the Institute from Sakura's house came back and we soon appeared in a big area that had a structure that looked like a gas station, a truck not too far from it. It felt warm outside and I could only assume that it was summer time. Not too far from us were Rubedo, Albedo, and Nigredo.

"The target is the beach." Rubedo said. "We should reach it if we proceed north through the forest. Let's go!"

The group of U.R.T.V.s left the area down the dirt path ahead of us and we followed them. As we walked down the path I couldn't help but think of the Albedo from fourteen years ago. He was unlike the present Albedo that I had encountered, but at the same time he was. It was surprising to see him act shy and cry and I wondered if he had truly been like that before.

My train of thought was broken when I heard the sound of a gunshot and my head shot up to see that Jr. and the others had their weapons out, fighting a bunch of Gnosis that looked like specters. I took out the Shiruba and pressed the button on both of them to turn them into swords and started charging at the specter-like Gnosis, ready to strike.

_I loathe your beauty._

I suddenly stopped in place by the inhuman sounding voice I had heard. I looked ahead and saw that all the Gnosis' attention was directed at me and moving away from the others.

"Ayame, mo…" Suddenly Jr.'s voice faded and I couldn't hear what he was saying despite his lips moving to form the words. It was the same for the others.

My eyes widened when I saw that the Gnosis continued to advance upon me. I tried to move but I seemed to be frozen in place and began shaking in fear.

_I loathe your charm._

The Gnosis were now surrounding me and I had nowhere to run. Their inhuman sounding whispers seemed to echo all around me. Suddenly everyone along with the area we were in disappeared only to be replaced by a black void and the Gnosis started to get closer.

_You have no past._

_You are useless._

I dropped the Shiruba and brought my hands up to cover my ears from their voices, my eyes shut in fear.

_You are a waste of life._

"Shut up…!"

_You are nothing but a burden to them._

"Stop it…!"

_You have no value._

_Your life is meaningless._

"Shut up! Stop talking to me! None of that's true!" I yelled at the Gnosis. "Leave me alone! I'm not going to listen!"

Suddenly I heard the sound of a gunshot and my eyes shot open wide to find that I was back in Sakura's Subconscious Domain as I saw that the Gnosis surrounding me were all dead. I looked up and saw everyone running over to me as I pulled my arms down, worried expressions on everyone's (minus KOS-MOS, Ziggy, and MOMO) faces.

"Ayame, are you okay?" Jr. asked.

I nodded my head reluctantly, still scared.

"Why didn't you listen to me when I told you to move?"

"I-I…couldn't move…" I said, my voice slightly shaky. "T-they kept…talking to me… Didn't you hear them…?"

Everyone looked at each other confused at what I said.

"Ayame, Gnosis don't talk." Shion said, looking at me with concern. "And even if these ones did, we didn't hear them speak. You were just yelling for no reason."

"_They didn't hear what those Gnosis were saying?! But I heard it very clearly._" I stared wide eyed at Shion.

"It's okay now. The Gnosis are gone and we can continue following the U.R.T.V.s" chaos said.

I picked up the Shiruba that I had dropped earlier and placed them back in their holster. I was about to leave when I noticed something on the ground and picked it up to find what looked coins with a "G" on it.

"_It's money!_" I thought pocketing it before joining the others.

We continued to follow the U.R.T.V.s until we came to an area that had windmills moving in the wind. In the sky was a reddish purple orb and the U.R.T.V.s were facing it.

"So this is…the fear that Sakura holds." Rubedo said.

Suddenly U-DO waves suddenly came out from somewhere and was about to hit Rubedo.

"Look out! Behind you!"

Nigredo took the hit from the blast wave while protecting Rubedo, seemingly unharmed. More U-DO waves appeared and one got near Albedo, causing him to jump in surprise.

"What is this thing?" Albedo asked. He suddenly kicked one of the waves. "Cut it out!"

Rubedo and Nigredo started at their white-haired brother but the former turned around facing U-DO.

"Are they ready? Let's spread out a psych-link and take care of this." Rubedo said.

"Rubedo, look!" Nigredo pointed out.

The blast waves were circling around the orb.

"The waves--" One of the standard U.R.T.V. said.

Rubedo, Albedo and Nigredo stared at the standards with spooked looks on their faces.

"The waves are coming!"

"Hey! What are you talking about?" Rubedo started backing away a little in confusion.

Suddenly blast waves suddenly came and struck the other three U.R.T.V.s like a snake.

"No!"

The remaining U.R.T.V. started running away in fear in an attempt to escape, but got hit with U-DO's wave. The four U.R.T.V.s that had been hit with the waves became infected and transformed into grotesque monsters.

"They've been infected." Albedo said in fear. "But we're not even inside the U-DO simulator!"

One of the Infected U.R.T.V.s suddenly jumped into the air and made an attempt to attack Rubedo. Rubedo started screaming out loud in fear along with Jr. as the Infected U.R.T.V. was about to hit him.

"Jr. look out!" I cried.

I rushed over to Jr. and quickly got in front of him so he wouldn't get hit. Fortunately he didn't get hurt, but I couldn't say the same for myself and ended up getting a slash on my left arm from the monster, some blood trickled down it.

"Ayame…" Jr. said, sounding surprised. "You're hurt!"

I turned to look back at Jr., his blue eyes were wide in shock upon seeing my bleeding arm.

"It's nothing." I said, giving him a weak smile. "Please don't worry about me."

I felt a sudden stinging in my arm where I was slashed and clutched my left arm with my right hand. I tried using Medica M on it and it healed the pain, only to have it quickly come back again into the injury. While everyone else was fighting the three Infected U.R.T.V.s Shion had managed to come over to where I was while Jr. went off to fight the monsters.

"Ayame, you've been poisoned." Shion said.

"Poisoned?" I asked confused.

"Yes. Let me help get ride of it for you."

Shion started using her Ether abilities and a pale light appeared briefly on my injury before it faded along with the pain.

"Thank you, Shion."

I used Medica M on my arm again and it caused the injury to vanish. I looked to see how everyone was doing, only to see that they finished off the last of the group of Infected U.R.T.V.s. We soon continued on our way (I remembered to pick up the coins with the "G" on it) until we came into the next area that happened to be the beach. As we walked into the area a little more I noticed that it was too quiet.

Suddenly a Infected U.R.T.V came out of the bushes and started to act weird when it suddenly had another body come out of it's torso. I felt sick to the stomach when I saw this happen and suddenly felt scared. The new body came out and transformed into Level 4.

"_This time, I won't be useless!_" I thought in determination, getting out the Shiruba.

I helped the others attack it. It was quick to attack and seemed to strike like a snake. When I was about to be on the receiving end of its attack I quickly put pulled my swords up in an "X" position in order to not get hurt. I struggled as I tried to push it away using my swords and was lucky when KOS-MOS came and helped fend it off. We were soon able to defeat it, feeling tired afterwards.

Suddenly we saw Albedo continuously kicking a helpless standard U.R.T.V. Rubedo and Nigredo turned around and saw their white-haired brother grab the collar of the U.R.T.V.'s uniform and slammed his back into the ground multiple times.

"I told you to leave Rubedo alone!" Albedo yelled insanely, occasionally punching his victim. "Variants aren't monsters! You guys are just weak!"

Albedo continued punching the U.R.T.V. multiple times in his insanity. While Albedo had gone insane by attacking the U.R.T.V., Rubedo and Nigredo rushed back to him, the red-haired brother trying to stop his white-haired brother.

"Stop it!" Rubedo yelled. Albedo stopped attacking the U.R.T.V. and turned around, looking at his brother. "You'll kill him!"

Albedo gasped quietly when he saw the angry look on Rubedo's face.

"Rubedo…" Rubedo and Nigredo stared at their brother before they started walking away. "Don't look at me like that!" He shouted. "Rubedo!"

We all reappeared back inside the room with the dive-capsules and left through the door. Upon coming out we saw the three phantoms again and followed them outside down the hallway to our left and through a door. We followed the stone path and soon found Rubedo, Albedo, and Nigredo standing in front of a monument. Albedo had his back facing his two brothers, his head hung and his hands behind his back.

"What?" He asked annoyed, turning his head to face the two.

"What were you thinking?" Rubedo yelled angrily. "Number 623's badly injured!"

Albedo turned around and placed his hands behind his head.

"Is that what this is about? All he's got to do is just regenerate. What's the problem?"

Rubedo started at Albedo wide-eyed.

"Regenerate?"

Albedo slightly raised his right arm and a glowing blue orb of energy appeared on his right hand.

"Regenerate…" He said. "Like this…"

Albedo pushed the glowing blue orb of energy towards his head and then blood splattered over the stone writings of the monument and the floor, Albedo's head gone and his body still standing and alive. Rubedo and Nigredo were so horrified by Albedo's action and screamed. I wasn't surprised when I saw that Albedo's head regenerated and reappeared back on his shoulders

"See?"

Albedo placed his left hand to the back of his head and cracked it. Rubedo's eyes were wide and he looked so tensed up that he started clenching his right hand into a first.

"You idiot!" Rubedo yelled furiously, punching Albedo in the face and knocking him down to the ground. Nigredo restrained Rubedo by grabbing his arm to hold him back. "Don't you ever pull anything like that again! If you die, you can't come back to life!"

Albedo held his hand on his cheek where Rubedo had punched him and suddenly looked hurt and confused as he stared at his brothers.

"You mean… Are you saying you can't regenerate?" He asked

"Of course not!" Rubedo jerked himself away from Nigredo.

"That's a special ability only you possess." Nigredo said.

"Only me?" He asked sadly, tears stared to appear in Albedo's purple eyes. "You're both gonna die and leave me behind?"

He didn't get an answer.

"No!" Albedo cried in an outburst as he got up. In his upset outburst, he held onto Rubedo, leaning his head on his older brother's front body, crying full out as his face became tear stained. "I don't wanna be alone! If you die, I wanna die, too."

Albedo continued to cry.

"Stop it. Don't say things like that. Now you're making me sad, too." Rubedo had tears welling up in his blue eyes as well.

While Albedo cried Nigredo stood next to his brothers looking on sadly, sorrow in his eye. I couldn't help but suddenly feel sad as I watched all this take place before me and almost felt like crying myself.

"Rubedo, don't leave me behind." Albedo cried.

The flashback soon ended and instead of seeing three phantoms, we only saw Albedo's phantom running through a huge gape in the brick wall not too far from where and into the area behind it. We followed the phantom into an area only to be surprised at what we saw. I stood with the others as we watched the young Albedo digging two holes in the ground near a tree hidden in the Yuriev Institute, unaware of our presence.

As I watched Albedo dig, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Not too long ago he had recently discovered that he couldn't die while Rubedo and Nigredo would die. The image of Albedo clinging to Rubedo while crying was still fresh in my mind. I think I understand how Albedo felt. There must have been people I cared about before I lost my memories that are already dead. If only I could remember my past I would probably be sad too.

"What is he doing?" Shion asked.

"I don't know, but…" Jr. said. "…ever since that day…ever since Albedo learned he couldn't die, he somehow started to change."

I looked to Jr. who seemed sad.

"Really?"

"We didn't understand. There was no way we could have understood… We couldn't know what it felt like to have a body that wouldn't die."

There was a brief pause and I took the opportunity to glance back at Albedo who was still digging in the dirt using his hands.

"Death is rest for the soul." Ziggy suddenly said. "Who was it who said that? If the body did not die, and the fears borne in the mind just continued to pile up, the world would be nothing more than an eternal prison."

We all looked to Ziggy, KOS-MOS nodding slightly at what the cyborg said.

"Old man…" Jr. said quietly as he looked at Ziggy.

Jr. turned around, facing away from Ziggy.

"In the beginning, Albedo and I were one."

"Because you're both from the same fertilized egg?" Shion asked.

"No. He was literally attached to my back from conception until the 28th week." Jr. pointed to his upper back with his left hand. "His heart was attached right around here."

"What?"

"Attached?" I asked confused.

"Occasionally, due to incomplete cell division, twins are born sharing some portion of their internal organs." KOS-MOS said.

"That's right. Our special abilities, the power to halt or stimulate cell growth, are both based on the same basic principle. But after we were split apart, our powers headed off in different directions." Jr. said. "And that's why I shouldn't have just abandoned him."

"Jr." Shion started. "Couldn't you try just one more time to approach him?"

"Well, you know…we're both pretty stubborn."

I suddenly remembered that this was an Encephalon of 14 years ago, and that Jr. looked no different than he did today. If Jr. looked liked a 12 year old when I met him and this was 14 years ago (and was 12 back then) did that make him 26?

"_So this whole time, I've been friends with a 26 year old man trapped in the body of a 12 year old boy?_" I thought. I started to blush. "_So that would explain that feeling I had on the Durandal that told me Jr. wasn't a little boy._"

I then heard footsteps walking away and looked up to see Jr. and the others were leaving the grove that Albedo was still digging holes in and heading for the opening in the brick wall.

"Wait for me, you guys!" I said as I ran after them.

None of them responded to me or seemed to even hear what I said. I kept running after them and was getting closer to them. I was soon right behind them when they took the right turn after coming out of the grove and were soon walking on the paved walkway.

"Jr.! Jr. wait!"

I reached out to grab his shoulder, but my hand went right through him! My eyes widened in horror at what just happened.

"_M-my…my hand…went through him…!_"

I looked down at my hands and saw that they were shaking uncontrollably.

"Wait a minute! Where's Ayame?"

I looked up and saw that everyone had stopped walking and seemed to be looking around.

"Shion! Ayame's missing!" Jr. said.

"She's missing?" Shion asked.

"We should look for her." Ziggy said.

"Ayame! Ayame where are you?!" Jr. called.

"I'm here!" I cried as I desperately tried to grab him, only to have my hands go through him every time. "I'm right here, Jr.!" As I continued to do this, I started to cry, the tears beyond my control.

"KOS-MOS, could you try locating Ayame?" Shion asked.

"Tracking…" KOS-MOS said as she attempted to track me. I watched the android, hopeful that she would be able to find me. "I am sorry Shion, but I was not able to locate Ayame."

Whatever hope I had seemed to suddenly vanish.

"Not even KOS-MOS could find her." chaos said.

"Let's continue to look for her." Jr. said.

"Jr. don't leave!" I tried to grab him again and my hand went through him again. "Jr.!"

I fell to my knees and started to cry again. Why couldn't they see me? Why couldn't they hear me? What was happening to me?

I suddenly heard footsteps behind me and turned around to see Albedo walking out of the grove he had been digging holes in. He slowly started to walk towards the institute.

I got up and started to follow him to where he was going. I followed him inside the institute and down the hallway to a door that I hadn't noticed before.

"What's behind this door?" Albedo asked himself.

Albedo opened the door and I followed him inside the room. The room was well lit up and mostly vacant, except for a capsule in the middle of the room beyond the small room we were in. Albedo walked into the bigger room with the capsule in it.

"A capsule? What's something like this doing here?" Albedo walked up to the capsule and saw the plate at the base. "2008 A.D.? This capsule's from the time of Lost Jerusalem. Wonder what's inside it."

I watched as he came over to the side of the capsule and I did the same, curious to see what was inside. Albedo started to wipe the glass and we both gasped.

"_This…this is…!_" I thought.

Inside the capsule was…me! Then that meant that I was at the Yuriev Institution 14 years ago while I was asleep.

"It's …and angel…! And angel of the past." Albedo said, his purple eyes wide in surprise.

If I was here 14 years ago then that would explain how Albedo knew me. I still looked like I did now even 14 years ago.

"Albedo."

I saw Albedo's head shot up and looked to the doorway. I followed his gaze and saw Dmitri Yuriev with another person at the doorway and recognized the black man to be Representative Helmer from 14 years ago

"What are you doing here, no. 667?" Dr. Yuriev asked.

"D-Dr. Yuriev! I-I didn't know!" Albedo said sounding scared.

"You're not supposed to be in here." He said coldly, his eyes narrowing. "I'll let you off with a warning this time. Next time I catch you here, there will be consequences. Now go."

I watched as Albedo left the room, but I chose to stay. Maybe I could learn something.

"So this is Project Eden?" Helmer asked.

"That is correct." Dr. Yuriev answered.

"_Project Eden?_" I thought confused.

"But she looks no older than 17. It's hard to believe that she was from the year 2008 A.D. How did you come by this?"

"It's one of the secrets that U-TIC has kept quiet for years. They were just generous enough to give it to me."

"I see." Helmer said. "Do you plan on letting her out any time soon?"

"No. I see no need to yet."

"Don't you think she's slept long enough?"

"If I were to let her out, she would be confused and U-TIC's secret would be revealed."

"I can see your point."

"Now then, moving on." Dr. Yuriev said.

I watched as Helmer and Dr. Yuriev left. I turned to look back at my past self before I started making my way to the doorway in order to leave.

"How are you doing, mon iris?"

I gasped and turned to my right to see the young Albedo looking at me. I lifted my hand and started to move it left and right, watching as Albedo's purple eyes followed it. My eyes widened when I realized that he could see me.

But something wasn't right. He didn't talk like the young Albedo he was supposed to be. He talked more like the Albedo from the present that I've encountered before. Not in voice, but by the tone or the way he talked.

"Albedo…! What are you doing here?" I asked.

"What am I doing here?" He started laughing. "Why, I'm showing you the truth."

"The truth of what?" It was then that I realized something. "You separated me from the others, didn't you?!"

"Figured that all on your own, huh?"

"What did you mean by showing me the truth? What truth?"

"That I've known you way before Rubedo ever found you." He answered.

"So what you showed me just now was how you discovered me?"

"Bingo! You finally figured it out!"

I couldn't help but look at him sadly.

"But Albedo…you may have seen me, but you've never really known me." I said sadly. "So why did you come to me? Surely it couldn't be just to show me all of this."

Albedo went quiet all of a sudden. I didn't understand. Just by looking at him I could see the conflict in his purple eyes.

"Albedo…?"

He suddenly started to laugh bitterly, possibly at what I said.

"You don't know! You really don't know, do you?"

I didn't say anything.

"I've seen you laugh, angry, happy, and I definitely seen you cry. Ever since I first saw you, I developed feelings for you, and each visit seemed to make them grow."

I was confused at what he was saying.

"I don't understand." I said. "What kind of feelings?"

I watched as Albedo's face contorted in anger, his eyes reflecting his emotions intensely.

"Are you that dense?" He growled. "You don't understand my feelings, do you?"

I stood in place as he started to vent his anger.

"My feelings for you are that of affection-- love!"

I seemed to freeze in place at this revelation. I hung my head, staring at the floor wide-eyed.

"_Love…?_" I thought confused. "_What is…love…?_"

"Ayame!"

My head shot up and I looked in front of me to find that Albedo was gone. I looked to my left and felt relief when I saw everyone, only to have it replaced when I saw the look on Jr.'s face.

"Ayame, where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you!" He said when he came over to me. He sounded mad.

"I guess I must have lost my way when I couldn't find you." I lied. "But…I found something…" I went quiet.

"What is it?" Jr. asked. When he saw that I wasn't talking he placed his hands on my shoulders. "Ayame, what did you find?"

"…It's back there in the room." I said, pointing behind me.

Jr. removed his hand from my shoulders and looked behind me, only to have his eyes widen when he saw what I was talking about.

"I know that capsule!"

Jr. started to run over to the capsule behind me, followed by the others and myself. Everyone was surprised when they saw that was inside.

"Ayame, this is you." Shion said.

"I've never seen this room when I was still in the Institute since no one was allowed inside. Now I see why."

"When I was in here I saw Yuriev talking to Helmer about me. They called me 'Project Eden.'"

"Project Eden?!" Jr. cried.

"Jr.…do you know what Project Eden is?" Shion asked.

Jr. looked at Shion, and I couldn't help but be curious.

"I don't know much, but I had heard bits of it while I was here 14 years ago. But from what I've heard it was the first person sealed inside a capsule from Lost Jerusalem, but from there nothing more was said or where it went to." Jr. explained. He then looked over at me. "But if what Ayame says is true, then she's Project Eden. It makes sense from when I found her and from the way she dressed."

"We have strayed from our main objective. Let us continued looking for our target." KOS-MOS said.

"KOS-MOS is right. We came here to help MOMO."

It was with that that we left. Once outside the room, we saw the phantom-like images of Rubedo, Albedo, and Nigredo run through a big door and we followed them through the door.

* * *

ATE: There finally done. As you may have already guessed, this chap told about Albedo. While I was typing this up I was listening to the song 'A Stray Child' from '.Hack//Sign', which was composed by none other than Yuki Kajiura. And the part with the specter-like Gnosis (I don't remember what they were called, but I hated them) was something I had to put in here to make the story interesting. Originally, I never planned to include something like this when I was thinking about what to happen in the story before typing it up. You got to admit that it's annoying having them constantly saying 'I loathe your beauty' or 'I loathe your charm'. It certainly annoyed me to no end.

Please Review! :)


	8. Chapter 8

I uploaded a little early, but what's a few hours gonna make a difference? Yes in this chap, we'll all be in for a surprise or two. While I was typing this chap, I was listening to more .Hack//Sign music on youtube and I noticed that some of the music seemed to fit some of the scene. I will mark some parts of the story with the songs that I thought went well with what part. The music is as followed:

#1 = A Stray Child

#2 = Before Dawn

#3 = The World

If you were to listen to the songs while reading this chap, you'll understand what I mean when I saw these song seem to fit. Now enjoy this chap!

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own the OCs, while my self-appointed editoress owns Lilith.

* * *

Chapter 8

We stood in the dive-capsule room and saw that Rubedo, Albedo, Nigredo and all the other U.R.T.V.s were getting ready to dive into the Subconscious Domain. In the control room that overlooked the one we were in Yuriev, Juli Mizrahi and Helmer observed what was going on.

"Commencing with neural monitoring of unit number 666." A female voice said. "Membrane electrical potential, stable. Spontaneous brain wave frequency of number 667 shifting from 20 to 28Hz."

"Calm down, children. Don't get flustered." Yuriev said.

Rubedo, Albedo and Nigredo closed their eyes in an attempt to calm down.

"Stabilized, 8Hz."

"That's better. Just like that."

"So these are the U.R.T.V.s…" Helmer said.

"Dmitri, will they be all right?" Juli asked, turning to him. "I don't want to hurt these children, even for Sakura's sake."

"I'd heard they were young, but I didn't expect them to be this young…"

"You're pretty sentimental for a soldier, Helmer." Yuriev said, looking at the dark man.

"Hm. I believe a soldier's duty is to protect human life."

"This time, Sakura will be with you, too." Juli said.

Rubedo, Albedo and Nigredo dived into Subconscious Domain and we were teleported with them as well.

"Just like last time, the target point for this mission is the beach." Rubedo stated. "Albedo, Nigredo, let's go!"

I looked around the area and realized that we were in the same place we had followed U.R.T.V.s into before, the only difference was that there was snow on the ground as snowflakes fell softly from the gray sky. It was then that I noticed that it was cold when I saw my breath come out as a cloud and fade as the wind carried it away. I started to shiver from the cold and started to rub my bare arms with my hands to insulate warmth in them.

"I-it's f-freezing!" I said through my chattering teeth.

I turned to the others and saw that everyone (except Ziggy, MOMO, and KOS-MOS) was shivering as well.

"I agree with Ayame." Shion said.

"Then we should get through this as soon as we can." Jr. said.

We started trekking though the snow as we followed the familiar path the phantoms took. As we did so I looked over at KOS-MOS and noted her outfit she wore.

"Hey, KOS-MOS. Aren't you cold?" I asked.

"I am sorry, but I do not feel temperature. Therefore feeling 'cold' is irrelevant. " The android stated.

"_So much for asking…_" I thought.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

(#1)

I watched as Ayame asked KOS-MOS if she was cold and I wasn't surprised when the android told her she wasn't cold. I don't blame her for being cold either, since I was freezing as well.

I suddenly thought of the silvered-haired angel I had seen. The first time was when we found out that Albedo took MOMO and Ayame, followed by when Albedo and I were using our powers to hurt each other, she appeared in front of me, and the most recent one was when Ayame and I were staying at the hotel. Just who…was she…?

I looked over at Ayame but widened my eyes at what I saw! I saw a semi-transparent image of the angel over Ayame's body, but I could still see her body passed the angel's image and vice-versa. One way I could tell the person from the image was by the wings of light that the angel had on her back.

"_What the…?!_" I thought

I saw Ayame turn to face me (the image of the angel doing the same) smiling, but her face turned into one of confusion as she looked at me.

"Jr.?" Both person and image said as they walked over to me. "Jr. what's wrong?"

I shook my head and saw the angel's image disappeared, leaving Ayame behind.

"Uh… Nothing's wrong!" I said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah!"

"If you say you're okay, then the fact that you are makes me feel relief." She said, smiling.

I couldn't help but smile when I saw her do so. But the fact that I saw what I did worried me. Why did I see that happen? Did that angel have something to do with Ayame?

Now that I thought about it, they both seemed to look alike, if only with some slight differences. Where Ayame had white blonde hair the angel had silver hair that glowed and was longer than the former. And the angel had brighter sky blue eyes that glowed as well, and her outfit was a long flowing long-sleeved white dress. The angel had large wings made of light and a glowing aura of white light surrounding her body. And then they had the same necklace as well! But that could be just a coincidence, right?

-------------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

We continued following the U.R.T.V.s and after making out way through the piles of snow on the ground (we never encountered any enemies) we came to the beach where Rubedo, Albedo and Nigredo were along with Sakura.

"Sakura! There's nothing here today. If we run, we'll be at the beach in no time." Rubedo said. Sakura shook her head telling him "no". "Why not? Let's go! First, we'll cure your illness, then we'll go to a real beach."

Sakura was quiet and lifted her head to look at Rubedo, only to gasp at him. I looked at where she was looking at saw that Rubedo's shadow had been replaced with an evil looking one. Sakura became scared.

"Rubedo, look!" Sakura said, using her right hand to point to his shadow.

Rubedo turned around and was horrified from seeing the evil looking shadow, his eyes wide. Just then Albedo started laughing sinfully.

"What do you know, Rubedo? You're just like me, aren't you?" Albedo started glowing in a ominous purple color. "Rubedo's a monster, too!" He laughed. "It all makes perfect sense. Once, the two of us were one. So, if I'm a monster, that means you're a monster, too! Oh, this is wonderful! I'm so happy!"

We watched as Albedo continued to glow and laugh.

"No! Wait! This isn't my shadow!" Rubedo cried.

"Rubedo, calm down." Sakura begged. "Please don't get angry."

"I…I'm not a monster!"

We watched in fear as Albedo's laughing voice changed to that of the Albedo in the present, my eyes widening.

"Can you still feel the beating in your chest, Rubedo?" Albedo asked, in the voice of his present counterpart. "Can you still feel my heart, buried in the right side?"

Rubedo looked really tensed up as his eyes were wide in shock. Suddenly and image of MOMO appeared over Sakura's body.

"Rubedo/Jr., it's a trap!" They both said. Suddenly red flames burst out of Rubedo's body. "Rubedo! No!"

The brightness coming from the red flames brightened the area where Sakura, Nigredo and Albedo were standing, Rubedo screaming really loud and out of control.

Back in the analysis room in the real world, Jr. was screaming really loud uncontrollably and switched back to the Jr. that was in the Encephalon.

"Albedo!" Jr. yelled, the red flames now appearing on his body as he went out of control.

"Chief! The Encephalon field structure has started to rapidly collapse!" Allen voice said. "It's not a problem with the system. It was probably another trap inside MOMO."

"We should have known." Shion said. "Albedo anticipated the likelihood of an Encephalon Dive."

"Did you say Albedo?" Ziggy said. "If he was an acquaintance of Sakura Mizrahi as well, then it may have been part of his plan to bring Jr. here."

I watched as Jr. approached over to where Rubedo, Albedo, Nigredo and Sakura were standing as if in a trance, the four children disappearing as he got closer.

"A bypass-intrusion into the Encephalon?" Allen asked.

As Jr. approached forward uncontrollably, a portal appeared out of nowhere and the present Albedo came out and grabbed him by the neck, Jr. hands coming up to the white-haired man as he was placed in a headlock. Albedo took a sniff at Jr.'s head.

"Such a sweet smell, Rubedo—" He said. Jr. was now struggling to get free. "The smell of rage evaporating off your body. Sure you don't suffer from excessive norepinephrine?"

Albedo turned Jr. and made him face us.

"Jr.!" Ziggy yelled.

"Jr., calm down." Shion said. "Don't you want to make peace with your brother?"

"Peace?" Albedo asked. "I'll have you know, Rubedo and I are the best of pals."

Albedo suddenly stabbed his left hand through Jr.'s stomach, causing him to cry out in pain.

"_Jr.!_" I thought.

I tried to run over and help but I felt someone grab my right arm and turned around to see that chaos stopped me.

"Don't." He said. "It isn't time yet."

"_Time?_" I turned back to look at Jr."_What's he talking about?_"

"Albedo!" The red flames surrounding Jr. intensified as he yelled.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes! That's it! Come on! Unleash what you've been holding in all these years!"

"I'm gonna take you down!" Jr. growled, sounding like he was in tremendous pain. "You're gonna regret this!"

"Sounds like fun. Give it a try."

Jr. released a burst red light from his body, striking Albedo and throwing him to the ground. Jr. was coughing as he is recovering from Albedo's headlock while we ran over to him. He turned to look at Albedo, who had gotten up and sparks of electricity appeared around him.

(#3)

We were now fighting Albedo with our weapons in our hands. With the Shiruba both in gun form I shot at Albedo's left arm multiple times to the point that it had disappeared.

"That tickles, mon iris." Albedo said. His arm started to reappear. "But surely you haven't forgot my powers, have you?"

Before I knew it I found myself behind held off the ground by Albedo whose hand was around my neck. On instinct my hands came up and tried to pry his hand off as I struggled to breathe.

"Haha, so frail! Tell me, how does it feel to know that your opponent holds your very life in their hand? After all, death means nothing to me." I continued to struggle, not saying anything to him. "Don't feel like talking? Maybe I'll let your cries of anguish answer for me!"

Suddenly Albedo punched me in the stomach and caused me to gasp loudly in pain, just merely gasping hurt my constricted throat and my eyes watered. He continued doing this for what seemed like forever and I continued to cry out in pain as he merely laughed at me. Just then something hit Albedo and caused him to drop me, landing on the ground as gaspied when I finally got oxygen and coughed whiling holding my hand to my throat.

"Ayame, are you okay." I heard Jr. ask, looking up to see him next to me.

"I'm…okay…" I answered as best as I could. "Today…just isn't my day…"

Jr. turned to Albedo, anger evident on his face. Jr. screamed as a red dome appeared around him, while a purple one around Albedo, the two forces colliding as both of them screaming so loud in controlling their powers.

"No, Jr.!" Shion cried. "If you fight Albedo, you'll just be hurting yourself."

"Wait, Shion. Jr. is losing control." Ziggy said.

MOMO watched what was going on with Jr. and Albedo. The white-haired man started laughing evilly.

"You've got to hand it to him. He's trying to control his emotions. But his body hungers for combat. We are weapons, after all!"

Jr. continued to scream out of control as he to emit the dome of burst energy. I starting running over to him, everything feeling like it was going in slow-motion.

--------------------------------------------------------

In the real world, MOMO was awake and then closed her eyes.

"Stop…"

--------------------------------------------------------

I eventually made it over to Jr. and wrapped my arms around him from behind, ignoring the intense heat I felt from the red flames surrounding him.

"Jr.!" I cried. "Stop!" A voice echoed with mine and suddenly a bright light appeared. When it faded my hair felt like it was floating and I felt something coming from my back yet didn't feel it at the same time.

Jr. and Albedo stopped emitting the domes of energy, the red-head I held looked down at me, his blue eyes wide and then looked behind us. I followed his gaze and saw that an orange blazing light surrounded MOMO.

"You fell for it, ma péche!"

Suddenly from the sky, a judgment like beam of light fired downwards and struck MOMO.

"You're so easy to manipulate, my mechanical angel. Mizrahi and his crazy whims… Anyone can see what it would've been smarter not to give you human emotions." He said. "And you!" I turned around and saw Albedo looking at me, a insane grin on his face. "Oh mon iris, I'm so very impressed you were able to calm Rubedo. You should have done it sooner, better yet, when he had abandoned all of us to U-DO!" He started laughing maniacally and I only glared at him. "Now, now, there's no need to look at me like that, little angel. It doesn't suit you at all."

Suddenly there was a bright light and we found ourselves back in the analysis room in the real world. I looked over at MOMO and saw that she was awake. Juli Mizrahi rushed into the room and went over to the Realian. I took off the red diving glasses and ran over to MOMO.

"MOMO, you're awake!" Shion turned to Juli. "What about the Y-Data?"

"It's gone." Juli said, turning to Shion. "The thing we feared the most these last fourteen years… The key…" Shion looked puzzled. "The wheels have been set in motion. They can't be stopped."

Jr. approached MOMO as well, but suddenly looked over at me with his eyes wide again.

"Ayame…you're…you have wings!" Jr. said.

"Wings?" I asked.

I looked behind me and saw that I indeed had huge wings of light (AN: Think of the wings from Valkryie Profile 2: Silmeria, when either Alicia or any of the Valkryie sisters do their Soul Crushes during battle). I noticed glowing silver strands of hair floating in the air and realized that it was my hair. I then looked down at my hands and saw that they along with my body was glowing in an ether-like way.

"_What's…happening to me…?_" I thought.

-------------------------------------

In the observational room that connected to the analysis room, Lilith leaned against the wall looking through the window to her right, gazing at the sight of Ayame's new form and Jr.

"_Well, what do you know?_" She thought. "_The silver angel and the red dragon…how cute…_"

She pushed off the wall and started walking to the door to leave the area, along with the building.

"_But don't worry. We'll be seeing each other again soon enough…Project Eden._"

-------------------------------------

In space Albedo sat in the Simeon, the A.M.W.S. unit suddenly started to glow eerily.

"This is it." Albedo said. "The Key to the Abyss."

Albedo felt excited as ancient symbols started to appear and rise up.

"The gospel that will awaken Miltia. Rubedo. Are you looking at it? Come…let us share our new world!"

Albedo raised his hands up and suddenly he along with the Simeon disappeared.

--------------------------------------

Sometime later we decided to leave the U.M.N. Control Center to relax for the rest of the day and started to leave the observational room of the analysis area. Earlier I had been able to return to normal. As Jr. walked to the door he suddenly clutch at the right side of his chest and collapsed to his knees in pain as he used his free hand to grab the chair next to him for support. I ran over to his side and suddenly felt worried.

"Jr. what's wrong?" Shion asked.

"My chest… My right side… This pain… It's Albedo's." He said in tremendous pain as everyone came over to where we were. "His heartbeat is fading. It can't be… Albedo…"

I held my right hand out and placed it where Jr. was clutching and was about to use Medica M on him to ease the pain he felt.

"Ayame don't…" His pained voice said.

I looked at Jr., confused at why he stopped me.

"I…I know you want to help me…but this pain is…something you can't heal…"

"_Jr.…_" I thought sadly as I looked at the floor. "_What can I do…?_"

Some time later the pain Jr. felt faded and by that time I had an idea to make him feel better. When he was able to stand I went over to him.

"Jr. Let me take you somewhere." I told him.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked, looking at me confused.

"You'll see. But…" I pulled out a black bandanna (the same one that he used on me). "…you're going to have to wear this."

Jr. eyes had stared at the black bandanna and suddenly gave me a small smile.

"I guess it's only fair."

I went behind him and tied the bandanna around his eyes and made sure it was firm, but not to tight to cause him pain. I came back around him to where I stood in front of him and took his right hand.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

Jr. nodded his head.

I started leading him out the U.M.N. Control Center and into the city, entering through Sector 1. As we walked I kept an eye out for the place I was looking for and finally found it, leading Jr. into the building I had been looking for. Once we were inside I lead Jr. to one of the tables along with one of the chairs at the table.

"Just sit here and wait for a while, okay?" I told him.

"Okay."

I left him sitting at the table and walked over to the counter where a woman stood at the cash register.

"Hi, how may I help you?" She asked.

I looked at the menu and saw what I was looking for and realized that I had more than enough money to pay for two of them.

"I would like to get two sundaes, please." I told her.

I paid her the amount that two sundaes cost and waited for them to get ready. It didn't take long for them to get ready and the woman handed me the two sundaes, each having a plastic spoon.

"Here you go. I hope you enjoy it."

"Thank you."

I went back over to the table Jr. was still sitting in, waiting patiently for me to come back.

"I'm back." I told him, sitting in the chair across from him and placing one of the sundaes I had in front of him. "You can take the bandanna off."

Jr. reached his hands up behind his head and started untying the bandanna and took it off, only to have his eyes widen when he saw the sundae I had placed in front of him.

"You bought sundaes?" He asked surprised. "Where did you even get the money?"

"I got it from the enemies that dropped it back in the Encephalon Dive."

"Heh. I should of known. But why did you get me ice cream?"

"I remembered a flashback I had that had me eating ice cream and at the time I felt upset. I thought that this would help you feel better."

"Thanks, Ayame."

Jr. took the plastic spoon and started eating his sundae quickly. I immediately got worried.

"Jr. don't it so fast or you'll get--"

"Ow…" Suddenly Jr. held his forehead with his eyes shut tightly.

"--brain freeze…" I finished.

Jr. eventually opened his eyes and took his hand down from his forehead, giving me a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that…" He said.

We ate our sundaes in silence (Jr. being careful while eating his sundae this time) and we eventually finished them. We threw away the plastic spoons and cups and were about to leave through the door when I saw that raindrops were falling from the sky in a light drizzle and went out the door in my excitement.

"Ayame wait."

(#2)

I was now standing outside in the rain, a smile on my face as I looked up to the gray sky. I held my hands out and could feel the rain on my skin.

"Ayame, what are you doing?" Jr. asked, coming up to me.

"It's raining." I said looking down at him.

"Of course it is. It's nothing really special."

"I don't think that's entirely true, Jr. It feels…really nice."

"That's right. This is the first time you've felt the rain in over 4,000 years. You've forgotten how it felt, haven't you?"

"Yes." I smiled. "I don't recall a time I've felt the rain, but I know I have since it feels familiar to me."

"Let's go somewhere else." Jr. said.

I followed Jr. a little while until we came to what looked like a park. There weren't very many people out due to the rain and the benches were vacant. We went over to one of the benches and sat down (I sat on Jr.'s right) and enjoyed the quiet.

"I'm sorry…"

I looked down at Jr., who had his head hanging as his gaze fell to the ground, his hands were clutching his knees and I could see that they were turning white from how hard he was doing it.

"I never told you what I really was. I hid the fact that I was a bioweapons, and that despite my appearance I'm actually a 26 year old man in the body of a 12 year old boy." He explained. "You're probably mad at me right now. I can understand if you can't forgive me."

I stared at Jr. feeling sad as he told me all this. I placed my left hand over his right hand and I felt him flinch.

"I'm not mad at you, Jr." I said. "There's nothing for you to apologize for."

"Maybe what Albedo said about me is true. I am a monster."

He looked up at me, his blue eyes starting to water up. I took my hand off his right hand and used both hands to bring his right hand over to where I was. I turned it so that I could see palm of his hand and stared at the number "666" that was written in red. I started running my finger lightly over the palm of his hand, Jr. looking at me in confusion as I did this.

"Whenever I see this hand, I don't see the number written on it." I said. "Whenever I see this hand, I only see the person that this hand belongs to." I looked up at Jr. and gave him a gentle smile.

Jr. looked at me with wide eyes.

---------------------------------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

(#2)

"I'm sorry…" I said. I hung my head and looked at the ground as I clutched my knees with my hands to the point that they were white. "I never told you what I really was. I hid the fact that I was a bioweapons, and that despite my appearance I'm actually a 26 year old man in the body of a 12 year old boy." I explained. "You're probably mad at me right now. I can understand if you can't forgive me."

"_She probably is angry at me…_" I thought as I felt my eyes start to water.

I suddenly felt her place her hand over my right hand and I couldn't help but flinch at the contact.

"I'm not mad at you, Jr." I heard Ayame say. "There's nothing for you to apologize for."

"Maybe what Albedo said about me is true. I am a monster."

I lifted my head and looked up at Ayame, a very gentle look on her face as she looked at me with her blue eyes. She took hand off my right hand and suddenly held it using both of her soft hands and brought my right hand over to where she was. She turned it so that the palm of my right hand show the number that I was curse with since birth. She started running her finger lightly over my palm and I looked at her confused at why she was doing this.

"Whenever I see this hand, I don't see the number written on it." She said.

"_How can she not see my number when it's right in front of her in red?_" I thought feeling hurt and upset.

"Whenever I see this hand, I only see the person that this hand belongs to."

She looked up at me and gave me a gentle smile. My eyes widened when I realized what she meant. She…she was accepting me for who I am and not what I truly was. She made that clear from what she told me. I suddenly didn't feel sad anymore knowing that Ayame wasn't even mad at me and felt a warm feeling in my heart.

I remembered what the angel had told me about how I already knew her, and when I saw her in the Encephalon. I had learned that the angel was really Ayame when I had seen her change from her normal appearance to that of the angel. Her hair had changed from being white blonde to a glowing silver, her eyes becoming brighter, and the large wings of light that emitted from her back. The angel was right, she was closer to me than I thought.

"_It makes sense though._" I thought. "_Ayame really is kind-hearted like an angel._"

"_It only seems fitting, Jr._" I heard Gaignun said telepathically. "_And she frowns upon that which is evil._"

"_That's true. And how very poetic of you, Gaignun._"

"_Do you understand what I had told you?_"

"_I believe so._"

"_And what's your verdict?_"

"_I think I may have a chance…_" I told him. "_There may still be a chance…_"

"_This is where I say 'I told you so'._" Gaignun chuckled.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

(#2)

Jr. was quiet for some time, his eyes had softened as he looked back down at his right hand I was still holding. Suddenly I saw a single tear roll down his cheek and realized he was crying. I let go of his hand and pulled him close to me as I wrapped my arms around his body as I tried to comfort him, letting him know that I was here with him. He wrapped his arms around me and held onto me as he buried his face into my shoulder as he cried.

"It's okay, Jr." I told him softly. "I'm here."

As I held him I felt that sensation that my stomach was doing flips, along with a new sensation which felt like my heart became light and warm. The sensations didn't feel bad, in fact they felt pleasant but I didn't know why.

Soon I felt the rain stop and the sun shone with its golden warmth as the clouds parted way for it's light. I looked up at the sky, seeing droplets of rain that were on the leaves of the trees gleam in the light.

"Jr. It's stopped raining."

Jr. lifted his head and looked around us and saw for himself that it had stopped raining, before turning back to me with his tear stained face, his eyes red and somewhat puffy from crying.

"You see? Everything's all right now." I told him, using my finger to wipe his tears away while giving him a gentle smile. "There's nothing to be sad about anymore."

He gave me a small smile before nodding.

"You realize that we're both wet now, right?" He asked.

I looked down and saw that we were indeed both soaking wet from the rain. It suddenly felt cold (but not as cold as it was in the Encephalon) and I felt Jr. hold onto me closer as I soon felt warmth coming from him. The warmth felt nice and I placed my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes as I heard the sound of his breathing in my ears.

"Maybe we should go back to the hotel. We won't be able to leave Second Miltia until tomorrow."

I lifted my head off of Jr.'s shoulder to look at him.

"I agree. And we might be able to dry off too."

We both got up from the bench and started to leave the park for the hotel.

"It's your fault that we're both wet in the first place." Jr. suddenly said.

I looked down at him as we walked.

"No it's not." I said.

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

I suddenly started laughing at what we were doing.

"Is this supposed to be some sort of intellectual debate?" I asked.

"And if it is?" Jr. countered with another question.

I shook my head.

"Okay, so maybe it's my fault that we're both wet."

"You finally admit to it!"

"Oh, so that was your plan this whole time." I shook my head. "No offense, but despite actually being 26 years old, you certainly act like a kid."

"Only to keep up the façade of appear like a kid more convincing." He said. "I can't exactly age so I have no choice."

"It doesn't matter to me. No matter how old you really are, you'll always be my friend."

"Yeah." He nodded.

We soon arrived at the hotel and went inside together. We saw the same woman that we had met the other day at the desk with her smiling face greeting us.

"Welcome back." She said. She then noticed that we were soaking wet and gave us a questioning look. "Why are you two wet?"

"We got caught up in the rain." Jr. said.

"Now that you mention it, it had been raining earlier. I'm guessing you want a room. How long will you be staying this time?"

"Only for tonight, again."

"Well, I might as well give you the same room you stayed in last time. Here's the key for room C57 and enjoy the rest of you day."

Jr. paid for the room again and we went onto the elevator to the third floor where our room was.

"You do remember that the room had only one bed, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah I do." He said. "That isn't a problem with you, right?"

"N-no." I felt my face heat up as I turned my head to the side so Jr. would see it.

"Good. I'm guessing we'll be sharing the bed again?"

I nodded my head, feeling my face get warmer than it already was.

We soon made it to the third floor and walked down the hallway to room C57 and used the cardkey to enter. We walked into the room and looked at Jr.

"Do you want to take a shower first?" I asked.

"I'll let you go in first."

"Are you sure?"

"It's not a problem." He insisted. "Besides, there's a machine inside that'll dry your clothes while you're in the shower."

"Okay."

I took off my shoes and socks along my holster and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I turned on the shower and while I waited for the water to get warm I stripped my close off and found the machine Jr. had told me about that would dry my wet clothes and placed them in, pressing the button to start the process before stepping into the shower. The shower felt relaxing but I knew that I couldn't take long so I quickly got finished as I heard a 'ding' sound that probably indicated that my clothes were dry.

I turned off the shower and dried off before stepping out and pulled my clothes out of the drying machine, placing them back on. As soon as I finished putting my clothes back on I left the bathroom where Jr. sat on the bed, his upper half laying on the bed while his legs hung off it, his boots not to far away along with his holster.

"Your turn." I said.

Jr. sat up when he heard me and got off the bed.

"Thanks."

He walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. I soon heard the shower being turned on and knew that he would soon be in it. I too my sleeveless white coat off along with my white arm warmers, placed them on the table nearby, and went over to the bed and sat on the side that I had slept on before during our last stay at the hotel. I looked at the ceiling as I thought of the feelings I felt back in the park earlier and how they seemed stronger when I held Jr. as he cried.

"_What was it that I felt?_" I thought.

Suddenly the sound of the shower running stopped and I suspected Jr. was finished. After a few minutes he came out, wearing his now dry close with the exception of his red coat (his sleeveless red turtleneck sweater and the thin long sleeved black shirt underneath showing). He smiled upon seeing me.

"Looks like you were able to stay awake this time." He said.

I realized what he meant and couldn't help but smile at him. He was referring to last night when I had been waiting for him to finish his shower to tell him goodnight but fell asleep.

"It's not that late yet." I said. I looked out the window. "The sun is only setting."

"Really?" He looked out the window as well to see the orange sky lit up by the setting sun. "I guess your right. It didn't seem like that much time passed."

"It really didn't."

"We should get an early start on sleeping. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow anyways."

I nodded in agreement and started getting under the covers on my side of the bed while Jr. did the same.

"Goodnight, Jr." I said.

"Goodnight, Ayame." He said.

I laid on my right side facing away from Jr. After a few minutes past I suddenly felt cold and drew my legs up to my chest in order to keep warm, but it didn't work and I started shivering. I tried not to make a sound so I wouldn't wake Jr. up.

"Ayame? Are you awake?"

(#2)

My breath caught in my throat upon hearing Jr.'s voice and I started to think that I had woken him up.

"Yes." I answered quietly. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No, I've been awake for a while." He said. "I saw you shaking. Are you cold?"

"Yes." I barely whispered.

It was quiet for a while until I felt the bed shift and suddenly felt Jr. wrap his arms around me, holding me close to him and felt myself blush.

"Jr., what are you doing?"

"I'm only trying to keep you warm since you said you were cold."

"_This feels like last time…_" I closed my eyes with a faint smile on my lips.

"Thank you…"

"No problem." Jr. said quietly.

I brought my hands up to where Jr.'s were and placed them over his, feeling that sensation of my stomach flipping and the warmth in my heart as I felt the warmth of Jr.'s hand. I finally fell asleep, no longer feeling cold.

* * *

ATE: We are officially at the end of the events of disc 1 of the game. It would seem that Lilith knows something about Ayame, but what? When I come back from the Camen Islands I'll start writting the chaps that involve the events of disc 2. I'm starting to wonder if I've kept the game characters _in _character (especially when it comes to Jr. and Albedo). If anyone could tell me if they are or not than that'll be great and I'll be able to improve the story a bit in order to fix the problem.

Please Review! :)


	9. Chapter 9

ATE: I'm back! And I've finally posted the long awaited chap 9 for everyone. Grand Camen was fun and I was able to think of how this chap should go. Yesterday I got together with my self-appointed editoress and we were deciding what her OC's (Lilith's) should say, along with helping me edit this chap up. Now I hope you all enjoy this chap!

Warning: This chap will contain insults directed at Jr., which insults his size and another I shall not mention (you'll see). Just a fair warning.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga, or the movie that is shown in this chap (I not telling what it's called). I only own my OCs while my self-appointed editoress owns her OC (Lilith).

* * *

Chapter 9

The next morning Jr. and I had checked out of the hotel and got breakfast at the same place we had been to the other day. We sat at the table eating (you guessed it) the breakfast burritos in silence, but it wasn't an awkward silence. Jr. was the first to finish his breakfast burrito when I was halfway through mine. Lately we've been hearing news about the Miltian space and some lost path to Old Miltia being reopened again, and I couldn't help but wonder why. Did it have something to do with what Albedo did?

"Ayame, are you listening?"

Upon hearing Jr.'s voice my head shot up to look at him. I must had been so deep in my thoughts that I didn't hear what he had said.

"Huh?" Was my intelligent response.

Jr. sighed while shaking his head with his eyes closed from what I said. Apparently my response had clearly answered his question. When he had stopped shaking his head he opened his eyes to look at me, a patient look on his face. I knew that usually most people would have a somewhat annoyed look on their face from such a response but I believe that Jr. was an exception to that, especially when it came to me.

"Representative Helmer had contacted me saying that he wanted to talk to us." Jr. explained.

"Do you know what he wants to talk about?"

"No." Jr. shook his head. "All he said was that it was important."

"Oh, all right."

I soon finished my breakfast burrito and we left to the building where Representative Helmer's office was. It was in that office that he explained what was going on and told us of a operation to retrieve the original Zohar from Old Miltia, requesting if the Kukai Foundation would carry it out. Jr. had agreed and had told me he wanted me to come as well, saying that we might find something on Project Eden. I had been a little unsure if I should but in the end I had agreed to come as well. We would be using the Elsa as our form of transport.

Afterwards we had left in order head for the Space Port where the Elsa would be. It was outside the gate where the Elsa was docked that I was surprised to see MOMO, Ziggy, chaos, Jin and another person wearing what appeared to be a jumpsuit standing nearby. The person had orange hair with the bangs on the right side of his face somewhat covering his right eye. Speaking about eyes I noticed that they were golden and knew immediately that he was a Realian. MOMO saw us and smiled.

"Jr., Ayame. You're here." She said happily.

"Hey, MOMO. How are you feeling?" I asked as we walked over to the others.

"I'm feeling normal, so you don't have to worry."

I turned to Jin.

"Hi, Mr. Uzuki. How are you doing."

"I believe I told you that you didn't have be so formal." Jin sighed. "Jin will suffice."

"Okay, Mr.-- I mean Jin."

"You're coming as well?" Jr. asked.

"Yes. Canaan and I have important business on Old Miltia."

I looked to the orange-haired Realian that stood nearby with his arms crossed and I assumed that he was Canaan.

"I assuming we're ready to leave, right?"

Everyone nodded in answer. It was with that that we were about to leave when I spotted someone from the corner of my eye and turned my head to see who it was only to smile when I saw the familiar face.

"It's Lilith!" I said as I started walking towards her. "Hi Lilith!"

Lilith was walking in our direction with her right hand in her pocket.

"Yeah, yeah! Hi to you too." She said.

_(Jr.'s POV)_

Everyone (including myself) turned around when we heard Ayame.

"_Lilith?_" I thought. I remembered Ayame mentioning Lilith before the other day, saying that she was a new friend.

After turning around I saw Ayame walking over to a woman that appeared to be 26 and stood an inch taller than Ayame, but my eyes widened when I saw her face and the black-silver highlighted hair upon realizing who this woman really was.

"Ayame! Stay away from her!" I yelled.

_(Ayame's POV)_

I stopped walking when I suddenly heard Jr.'s voice. I turned my head to look at Jr., wondering why he was telling me to stay away from Lilith.

"Jr., why are you telling me to stay away from her?" I asked confused. "It's just Lilith."

"That's not 'Lilith!'" He said. She's not Lilith? Then who is she? "That's U.R.T.V. number 670, Argenta."

"_Argenta?_" I thought, looking at the Lilith (who was actually Argenta). "_That's the U.R.T.V. that we saw in the Encephalon._"

"Very observant of you, Rubedo." She said. "I can't believe you figured that out by yourself."

"What?!" Jr. growled. "Are you calling me stupid?!"

"What did it sound like, runt?"

"Don't call me that!"

"Why? After all, you're just a 26 year old man who hasn't even gone through puberty."

"Take that back!"

"Why don't you make me, runt? Or should I saw rug-rat?" Lilith smirked.

I suddenly saw Jr. run past me with his hands held into fists, the look of pure rage on his face.

"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID BITCH!!!" He yelled as he ran over (I assumed) to punch her.

"Jr. no!" I cried, eyes wide.

He didn't seem to hear me and continued charging at Lilith and attempted to punch her, but at the last second she held her hand on top of his head and used it to prevent Jr. from getting any closer while he flailed his arms in an attempt to hit her. Suddenly, she kneed Jr. in the stomach (which caused the red head to hold his stomach in pain) and punched him in the face, sending him flying to the ground in front of me.

"Jr.!" I knelt down next to him, my eyes wide from what just happened as I tried to support his upper half carefully. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…!" He said, his eyes were shut in pain but he slowly opened them, only to have his blue eyes glare at Lilith angrily. "Dammit…!"

"You forgot who you're dealing with, shrimp!" Lilith said as she walked over to us, a very stern look on her face which her eyes reflected intensely. "Haven't you heard the saying 'look before you leap?'"

"Don't hurt him!" I said.

Lilith looked at me with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Hurt him? In cause you didn't realize, I already did." Her eyes changed from their questioning look to a serious one. "Besides, I didn't come here in order to hurt him. I came here for another reason."

"Another reason? What would that be?"

"I plan on going with you all to wherever you're going. How about it?"

"Like hell we'll let you come!" Jr. yelled.

"Do you want me to let out a can of whoop-ass on you again?" She asked as she cracked her knuckles in a threatening way. "It would be wise to bring me along as well since it'll be dangerous there."

"Why exactly do you want to come?"

"That is strictly confidential and I don't intend to share my reasons anytime soon."

Jr. was quiet and I knew that he was thinking of what to do.

"Fine! You can come!"

"I knew you would see it my way." She said. "Refer to me as 'Lilith' and I will refer to you as this 'Jr.'"

I helped Jr. up and healed him before everyone (with the addition of Lilith) went through the gate that the Elsa was in and boarded.

--------------------------------------------------------

_When Albedo released the seal, the lost path to Old Miltia was reopened once again. In response to this incident, the Federation government and the Immigrant Fleet both began their invasion into Miltian space. Their objective was to gain control over the original Zohar, which was still sleeping on Miltia. However, the Immigrant Fleet has anticipated this incident and successfully broke through the Federation's blockade. The Immigrant Fleet begin their descent into Old Miltia. _

_In its confusion, the Federation government's response was slow and disorganized. Though they deployed ships to try and secure the region, the Federation's unable to stop the Immigrant Fleet's advance._

In what appeared to be a cathedral inside the leading Immigrant Fleet ship the Patriarch stood in front of the alter, his back facing it as his gaze was set on the hologram of Margulis that was kneeling before him.

"I see that Miltia and the Subcommittee have begun to take action." The Patriarch said. "And there's news that Vector is taking part, as well. Can you handle them?"

"Leave it to me." Margulis responded. "I have already dispatched the Inquisitors. The disheveled Federation will be no match for us."

The Patriarch stared at Margulis, searching for the truth in his face that would match that of his spoken words.

"Margulis."

"Yes, Holiness."

"I have faith in you." He began. "Not as an Inquisitor, but as a comrade who shares the same goals. I want you to show me the strength of your devotion. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

_Meanwhile, after receiving orders to appear before Vector, Shion and Allen returned to the Dämmerung stationed in Miltian space. In response to the Immigrant Fleet offensive, Representative Helmer dispatched Miltia's standing forces to support the Federation. Helmer also planned out a covert operation to acquire the original Zohar on Miltia. This mission was secretly supported by Vector and the Contact Subcommittee and would be carried out by the Kukai Foundation. _

_Upon receiving Helmer's request, Jr. and the others made preparations to descend into Old Miltia in the newly restored Elsa. In addition, to ensure the absolute success of this mission, several new members also joined their ranks._

---------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

It was some time after departing from Second Miltia and into space that we had seen what appeared to be a white E.S. take out a bunch of enemies and we were amazed at the display. It turned out to be Shion, Allen, and KOS-MOS inside the E.S. and we let them dock inside the Elsa. No sooner than they did they came into the Bridge where we all were.

"Captain! We owe you one!" Shion said.

"Yo! Looks like you're causing trouble like always!" Matthews replied.

"Yeah, something kind of happened at First Division."

"Something?" chaos asked.

"Yeah. I can't put it into words very well, but I felt I had to go to Old Miltia."

"What?!" Matthews exclaimed

"What? What's wrong, Captain?" Shion asked.

"Representative Helmer asked us to go to Old Miltia, too. I didn't think there was anyone else crazy enough to head there."

"Yeah, Helmer asked me to go there, too!" I said. "Besides, that's where the original Zohar is."

"Canaan and I have business on Old Miltia as well." Jin said. "Representative Helmer asked me to analyze Canaan's data."

"So, everyone is headed for Old Miltia." Shion stated

"KOS-MOS was amazing back there!" Allen said.

"Yeah, even I was surprised." I agreed. "But who was that enemy? It even dodged KOS-MOS' attack! I have a bad feeling about this."

"Yeah, I wonder about that myself." Shion said.

"All right, lemme say something. Our next destination is Old Miltia, right? I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but it looks like we have to go, so let me know when you're ready to set out." Matthews explained. "Until then, go take a look around the newly remodeled Elsa!"

"_I think I'll look for Ayame._" I thought.

I left the Bridge to look for Ayame, but I had a feeling I knew where she was and went there. As I stood outside the door I couldn't help but think of what happened the other day and I wondered if I should tell her or not.

"_I could just ask her._"

It was with that that I decided to open the door.

_(Ayame's POV)_

I was sitting in one of the girl's cabins of the Elsa, going over what has happened so far today. When we were back on Second Miltia, Jr. wanted me to come with him to Old Miltia, saying that we might find something on Project Eden. MOMO and Ziggy came as well, along with Shion's brother Jin Uzuki and a Realian called Canaan. Just a while ago I heard that Shion, Allen, and KOS-MOS had joined us on the Elsa. I knew Shion wasn't happy to see Jin.

I didn't understand why Shion didn't like Jin. They were siblings, right? Why didn't they get along? I envied her. She was lucky to have a brother, let alone have memories of her family. I didn't have anything except the flashbacks I would get of my past.

"_But I'm starting to remember._" I thought.

I suddenly heard the door open and looked over to see Jr. walk in. I stood up as he made his way over to me.

"Hey, Ayame." He greeted.

"Hi, Jr. Is there something you need?" I asked.

"Yeah. I have a question."

"What is it?"

Jr. was quiet as his eyes fell to the floor. It was as if he was thinking of what to say. I stood looking at him as I waited patiently for his question to be voiced.

"Do you…" He lifted his eyes to look at me. "…do you…like me…?"

I was confused at first, but then smiled at him. I placed my right hand on his shoulder.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I like you! What's there to not like about you?" I asked.

"Heh…heh… Yeah…what's there not to like about me…?" He sounded a little disappointed as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'll be leaving now."

It was then that he left and I couldn't help but wonder why he sounded disappointed. Was it something I said?

_(Jr.'s POV)_

I had left the room Ayame was in and retreated to the men's cabin. I sat on the bed closest to the door and hung me head, my gaze to the floor.

"_Dammit._" I thought. "_I forgot that she only understands the concept of friendship. She wouldn't understand anything beyond that._"

As I sat on the bed I continued to think of what I could do. I thought of placing some hints here and there but immediately thought against it, knowing that it would only serve to confuse her even more (I believe that my response to what she told me had most likely left her confused). As I continued to think of what to do I immediately thought of something! A movie! I could ask her to watch something with me. It seemed innocent enough and it wouldn't confuse her.

I pulled out my Connection Gear and looked through all the movies I had on it. The movies I had on it were action flicks that dated back to the times of Lost Jerusalem still being inhabited (in other words, more than 4,000 years ago and could be described as old). I continued my search until I found the perfect movie. It was an action flick, yes, but it was also comedy and martial arts as well, so there wasn't a problem with it being hardcore. It dated back to 2007 A.D. so it should be something familiar to Ayame if not at all.

"_I still don't understand what's wrong with action flicks. Mary calls them cheesy, but I say otherwise._"

I got up from the bed and left the cabin with new determination. I headed over to the girl's cabin and found that Ayame was still there when I came inside. She looked up at me and smile.

"Hi again." She greeted.

"Same here." I replied. "I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I was wondering if you would want to watch a movie with me." I had new confidence that this would work. "It dates back to 2007 A.D. so it may be familiar to you."

"Sure. That sounds good."

"_Yes!_" I thought.

"We'll be watching it on my Connection Gear, so it won't take long for me to get it ready. We can sit over in the corner where that seat is." I pointed to the booth that had the table in front of it.

"Okay."

I watched as Ayame went over and sat on the seat of the booth and I soon joined her when I had the movie ready, sitting next to her so she would be able to see the screen as well.

"What's the movie called?" Ayame asked.

"It's called Rush Hour 3." I answered.

"Rush Hour 3? That sounds familiar, but I don't know why."

"Maybe you've seen it before."

"I guess so."

I soon started the movie and we watched the opening credits. We laughed when James Carter was directing traffic as he listened to music, which caused two cars to crash into each other and the man to complain that he supposedly didn't 'direct' them to go yet. As the movie went on Carter was in the ladies dressing room claiming to be the 'new costume designer' by the name of 'Bubbles', and I knew that there was a part that Ayame couldn't see for a very good reason so I would be prepared.

_(Ayame's POV)_

I couldn't help but laugh at the humor of this movie. I think I have seen this movie before but I don't know when or where, and there were places in the movie that looked familiar to me. We were now at the part where Lee came into the same building Carter was in as people sat at tables. Suddenly a hand firmly covered my eyes and I tried to pry it off.

"Ayame, don't look!" Jr. said, and I assumed he was the one covering my eyes.

"Why?" I asked.

"Trust me! You don't want to see."

I stopped my attempt at trying to pry his hand off as I heard Carter talking in a French accent to what I assumed were the women in the dressing room and talking about dressing them (whatever that meant), starting with the blondes then the brunettes and last the hybrids. Soon Jr. took his hand away from my eyes and I thought that he didn't need to do it again, but then he covered my eyes again.

"_Not again!_" I thought.

But that wouldn't be the last time he did that. Jr. ended up having to cover my eyes about three or four times (I kinda lost count, though). We were soon at the part where Lee and his brother where fighting with swords and when I thought something very bad was going to happen, I slightly jumped and without realizing it, I grabbed Jr.'s hand. After a while the movie ended and we watched the bloopers which were really funny.

"What did you think?" Jr. asked me.

"I thought it was good, and funny." I answered, looking at him.

It was then that I noticed that I felt something warm in my left hand and looked down to see that I was holding Jr.'s right hand. I quickly took my hand away and looked to the side while feeling my face heat up intensely, feeling my stomach doing flips again (it seems to do that a lot lately). I must've grabbed his hand when I jumped during the sword fight.

"Ayame, are you okay?"

I turned to Jr. again, my face still feeling warm.

"Y-yeah. I-I'm fine." I stuttered.

Jr. continued to look at me, his blue eyes curious as he seemed to search my face for something.

"_But what?_" I thought confused.

He continued to search my face before smiling at me.

"If you say so." He said.

Jr. got up from the seat we were both sitting on and started making his way to the door and was about to leave.

"Jr."

He stopped and turned to face me, a questioning look on his face.

"What is it?"

I was quiet as I thought in my head how I should word what I would say to him.

"Thank you for showing me the movie." I said.

"No problem."

He smiled before leaving the room. It was when he was gone that I looked at my left hand, staring at it. I remember that feeling I got again that consisted of my stomach doing flips and I couldn't help but wonder. Why have I been feeling this way lately…?

* * *

ATE: Finally finished! It was interesting to write this chap, but it was fun all the same. Jr. got pwned by Lilith which was something my self-appointed editoress wanted to happen for humor (which I know she'll enjoy when she reads this). Now I think we've witness something interesting happen in this chap, but what? Please Review! :)


	10. Chapter 10

ATE: Sorry it took like two weeks for me to update this story. I've had a busy two weeks with my job at the movie theaters. I saw the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on the 14th and we didn't get out of the movie until 3:30 something the next day. But what made it worse was that I had to go to work from 11:30-9:30, so I ended up only having about 4 hours of sleep and waking up at 7:00. Not fun, trust me. I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch so my stomach decided to protest against me for 11 hours straight (the longest I've worked a day at the job), feet being extremely sore for standing in the same place, and I felt like I was going to finally loose it until I finally got done that day. I swear I thought I could hear that heavenly chorus in the sky. But I don't think the readers want me to loose it and end up insane like Albedo (it certainly felt like I was about to). But enough of me ranting about last week. I believe you want to read, so enjoy chap 10.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga or Xenogears. I only own my OC Ayame, while my friend (self-appointed editoress) own her OC Lilith.

* * *

Chapter 10

Some time after having watched Rush Hour 3 with Jr. I went to the bridge and saw that Jr. along with Shion, Allen, KOS-MOS, MOMO, and Ziggy were there.

"MOMO, how's the enemy fleet trace?" Hammer asked as he typed at his computer.

"They're headed for point E-52 at combat speed." MOMO answered from where she was sitting and typed on the computer as well.

"Damn, they've got some guts to be charging in there that fast." Tony stated.

"That just shows how desperate they are." Matthews said. "Course, at this rate, we're never gonna catch them."

"Captain, I must warn you." KOS-MOS said as she walked over to where the Captain sat.

"What is it? Make it quick." Matthews lowered his seat.

"If we continue to proceed along the present course, it is highly probable that the enemy will leave a force to intercept us. It is prudent to assume that this ship will eventually suffer an extensive and unacceptable level of damage."

"I'm afraid KOS-MOS is right." Shion said. "We're in trouble unless we find a route where the enemy can't detect us."

"Look, I get what you're saying, but how the hell are we supposed to do that?!" Matthews asked. "This isn't a highway, you know. It's not like we can just take a detour or somethin'!"

It was quiet as everything started thinking of what to do.

"Actually, there is a detour." MOMO stated.

"What?"

Everyone looked at MOMO.

"Really, MOMO?" Shion asked.

"I've detected a small-gap in the gravitational fields between the two black holes." MOMO explained as she typed rapidly on the control console that she was using. "If we fly through it, I think the chances of enemy detection would drop significantly."

There was another brief pause.

"…Hey, are you outta your mind?" Matthews asked.

"Right." Shion said. "Even if we made the slightest mistakes, we'd be caught by the gravitational field and dragged into the Abyss."

"I guess it's impossible…" MOMO looked disappointed.

"What? Impossible?" Tony exclaimed. "Hey, hey, who do you think you're talking to here? There's no way Tony 'Numero Uno's' gonna turn down a challenge like that!"

"There he goes again…" Hammer sighed. "Once that moron gets started, there's no stopping him."

"Daaaah! Whatever! Do whatcha want… But you'd better not even think about gettin' a scratch on my Elsa!" Matthews yelled.

"Don't worry! Leave it to me! MOMO, I'll be counting on you for a route!"

"Okay!"

Later the Elsa boosted off at warp speed for awhile until the ship came hear near the two black holes. Just looking at them I knew instantly that this was really dangerous.

"Whoa, radar and sonar are both dead! We're not getting any readings…" Hammer cried.

"It's almost like we'd be better off flying blindfolded." Tony stated.

"Tony, I've detected a massive distortion in the space ahead of the Elsa. A large mass is about to gate out." MOMO said.

"What? They're gating out here?"

I looked out the window, only to suddenly see something huge appear between the two black holes. To me, it's shape looked like a flower (for lack of better words), an evil looking flower. The sight of it caused all of us to gasped in fright. Just by looking at it I knew that it was an enemy.

"What the hell is that?" Matthews asked.

"Damn, where were they hiding that thing?" Jr. asked.

Suddenly a lot of ships appeared around the huge object that had first appeared awhile ago.

"It's moving into Elsa's flight path." MOMO said. "180 seconds to impact!"

"Tony, can we avoid it?" Matthews asked.

"Negative!" Tony answered. "It's taking up the entire gravity well. If we screw up, we'll get pulled into the black hole."

"Bastards!" Jr. growled as he slammed his fist on the railing, causing Hammer to jump, and for me to look at him with wide eyes. "They're not gonna let us through no matter what!"

It was quiet as we didn't know what to do. I continued to stare at Jr. and I couldn't seem to get the image of him slamming his fist on the railing out of my mind for some reason. I know I had seen him angry before when we were helping the Elsa fight the Gnosis after I had woke up, but this time was different. We were in a different ship in a totally different situation and place, and the slightest mistake would cost us our lives. If I thought of it that way, it would only make sense that Jr. would react that way.

"The only thing left for us to do is to make them move." Matthews turned to Jr. as the redhead turned to the Captain. "Little Master, can we take them out from the inside?"

Jr. stared at Matthews before he pulled out one of his guns from the holster around his waist and twirled it around two times before holding it properly. "Yeah…yeah, if we can get inside, that is." He said rebelliously.

Matthews sighed and turned to Tony. "Tony, maintain present course and increase to maximum speed." He addressed Hammer. "Hammer, disengage all weapon safety locks. Don't worry about aiming. Just let loose with everything we've got! We're gonna dive smack dab into that thing's belly. It's time you guys showed me what you're made of."

"You got it!" Hammer said.

"Aye aye, sir!" Tony exclaimed.

The Elsa activated the full boosts and blasted off towards the huge object. We managed to evade the enemies and fired some lasers at them when we could. Tony was able to get us through the enemies as we destroyed some of the ships in the process.

As the Elsa was flying towards the huge object, something hit the ship and caused the Elsa to tilted forward. As this happened I managed to grab hold of the metal base of Captain Matthews chair and held on for dear life. I rapidly glanced around the room and saw that Jr. was holding on to what was the railing near Hammer that he had slammed his fist onto, while KOS-MOS was holding Shion's hand as she dangled helplessly, looking at the android in fear.

We were somehow able to get the Elsa upright only for the ship to have a very bumpy landing on top of the huge surface. But I didn't have to think to know that we were able to get past square one. I was able to stand on the floor along with everyone else. Not long afterward Jin, Canaan, and chaos joined us on the bridge.

"Okay, then! That was a little rough, but we made it." Jr. said. "There's no time to waste! Let's hurry up, get inside there, and take it out! That's a pretty big fortress, so we'll take the E.S.s!"

"E.S.s?" I asked. I couldn't help but think of the E.S. back on Second Miltia when he mentioned them.

"Yeah. We have three of them and two people are able to pilot it at a time."

I suddenly realized that I wouldn't be able to go with them.

"I can't go?" I asked, my face falling in disappointment.

Jr. was about to open his mouth to say something, only to close it when he realized what I meant and I saw a disappointed expression come on his face as well before he turned around so that he back faced me. He seemed to mutter something that sounded close to "damn it."

"Maybe she can stay here with me and Lilith…?" Allen stated unsure.

It was then that Jr. suddenly whipped around to face Allen, glaring ferociously. This caused Allen to laugh nervously before looking away.

I heard the door open and saw Lilith walk in, but no one seeming to notice her presence except me. She walked behind Jr., who didn't notice her until she placed her hand on his shoulder, which caused him to jump. He looked in the direction of the Lilith and seemed to give her a blank expression.

"Speak of the devil." I heard him mutter.

I watched as Lilith's grip on Jr.'s shoulder tighten and gave him a malicious grin.

"Did you say something, runt?" She asked.

Jr.'s face seemed to pale. I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, so I decided to do something before the situation got worse.

"Hey, Lilith!" I said as I walked over to where Jr. and Lilith were.

It seemed to work since Lilith took her hand off of Jr.'s shoulder and turned to look at me with her deep green eyes.

"Yo!" Was all she said. Lilith turned to look at Jr. with a stern look. "So I heard you're going to go into the Ormus Stronghold in E.S.s."

"How do you know?" Jr. asked, giving Lilith a suspicious look.

"It's called ears, 'Jr.' I understand you have them, but don't use them very often." Jr.'s face seemed to turn red in anger as Lilith smirked. "But we have a bargain to make, you and I."

"What would that be?" Jr. narrowed his eyes.

"How about she comes with me, I keep her safe, and you stop worrying while keeping your mouth shut?"

Jr. sighed begrudgingly.

"In what, exactly?"

"You'll see. Now how about we all go to the hanger and see my 'surprise?' It would seem that shorty over there is suspicious of what I have to show you and my intentions."

"I can't believe I'm stuck with this condescending…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"That's what I thought."

We all started making our way to the hangar where there were three large E.S.s, one of them I recognized as the dark blue and black E.S.s that we had seen back on Second Miltia, while one of them was white with huge butterfly looking wings, and the other being the color pink. Once we were there, Lilith took out what looked like a small remote and pointed it to one of the vacant stands like the ones that the other three E.S.s were on and pressed the button. Upon doing so a large object the same size as the E.S.s started to materialize on the stand until it stood proudly on it.

It kind of looked like an ancient suit of armor with large metal extensions that looked like wings. It was navy blue and silver with gold writings on it, all in metallic colored paint. (AN: It looks like Weltall-Id from Xenogears, with the exception that instead of the red color it's navy blue, and the pale pink [I think] is replaced with silver, but the gold writing stays the same.) As I looked at it, I couldn't help but be amazed.

"You have an E.S.?" I blurted out excitedly.

Lilith stared at me completely dumbfounded.

"Your naivety knows no bounds." She said. "How do you think I got here?"

"You walked?"

She stared at me for awhile before laughing at me. Jr. looked at Lilith like she lost it.

"Aha!! Oh my god…! I've heard of people not understanding stuff because of amnesia, but, come on! Seriously?! WALKING across space?!"

I suddenly felt somewhat guilty about what I said and hung my head.

"I'm sorry…" I said.

"Ah, it's alright. Don't sweat it. You have amnesia and I understand that. I'm happy though, knowing that you take a joke better than Ms. Moody over here."

Jr. sighed heavily as he stared at Lilith.

"So, what's the name of your E.S.?" Jr. asked.

"If you must know, it's called the Elias."

"Alright, let's just get inside the E.S.s so we can get going."

_(Jr.'s POV)_

I watched as everyone made their way to their E.S.s, Shion and KOS-MOS going over to the white E.S. called Dinah, MOMO and Ziggy going into the pink one called Zebulun, chaos went to the Asher where I would join him, and Ayame going over to the Elias. Lilith started making her way over to the Elias, but I wasn't going to let her go that easily.

"Lilith."

I watched as the woman herself turned to looked at me with a stern look that did little to betray her true emotion. She came back over to where I was.

"What is it?" She asked.

"What are you up to, Lilith? Why did you appear all of a sudden?" I asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"Why are you nice to Ayame when you're mean to me?"

"That should be obvious."

"You're avoiding the question."

"How am I avoiding it? Maybe you're not listening properly." She crossed her arms

"Your answer could mean anything, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Then why aren't you answering it?"

"It's not like I'm hiding anything. I just like her, got it memorized, red?"

"'Red?' That's a new one."

"I best be going now. She's probably wondering how to get inside the Elias."

Lilith started to walk away from me and make her way towards the Elias, where she helped Ayame how to get inside the E.S.

"_I have a feeling that there's more to your reason than you let on, Lilith._" I thought. "_You're hiding something and I will found out what it is eventually._"

Despite her being my sister, I didn't trust her. I feel like she is indeed hiding something. No! I knew she was hiding something. And I had a feeling that it involved Ayame in some way. There couldn't be another reason why she would be nice to her and only her without a reason.

"_I'm probably being paranoid about the whole idea that Ayame is with Lilith._" I thought.

I made my way over to the Asher, where inside chaos was leaning in the upper seat where the pilot of the E.S. would be if there were two people inside. I leaned in the lower seat where the person would handle the fire arms of the E.S. and placed my hands on the controls in front of me. Personally, I liked taking care of the fire arms when I pilot an E.S. since it gave me a feeling of power that was at my disposal with only the single touch of a button.

_(Ayame's POV)_

I saw that everyone else was already in their E.S.s while I waited for Lilith, who at the moment was talking to Jr. about something. The reason why I was waiting for her was because I didn't know how to get inside and I didn't want to mess with anything until I knew what to do. Soon Lilith finished talking to Jr. and started making her way over to where I was waiting for her.

"So, what were you and Jr. talking about?" I asked curiously.

"He just told me to make sure nothing happened to you while we're inside the Elias, that's all. Said that if something were to happen to you he would personally see to it that I get shot."

I couldn't help but flinch. Yep, that sounded like Jr.

"I wonder why he would say that."

"Maybe it's because he cares about you."

"Huh? What was that?" I asked confused. I wasn't sure if I heard right or if I was imagining what she said.

"Nothing. Now lets get inside." Lilith said.

We rode a lift up to the top so that we were where the head of the Elias was. Lilith got the head to open it up so that we could get inside, where there were two seats, and upper and lower one that looked identical with the same controls.

"This is what the inside of an E.S. looks like." Lilith explained. "The upper seat is for the navigator, or in this cause the pilot, sits while the lower seat is for the person that takes care of the fire arms and other weapons." She pointed to the seats. "There are some cases of only one person piloting an E.S. by themselves, and in instances like that they can handle both navigational and weapon controls while sitting in the upper seat, hence why the two seats have the same looking controls. Although it's a lot easier for two people to pilot one E.S., which is the case for us."

"Where will I be?" I asked.

"You'll be sitting in the upper seat taking care of the navigational controls, while I take care of the weapon controls. Since this is your first time piloting an E.S. I want you to take care of the navigational controls so that you can get the hang of it, since it'll be easier for you to take care of. You'll be taking care of those control until it feels like second nature to you before I can decide on if you'll be ready to share a part of the weapon controls with me."

"When will that be?"

"Not any time soon, that's for sure."

I got into the upper seat (but it didn't seem like a seat since you were more like leaning against the back surface than sitting in it) and I noticed that it was comfortable as well as it was cushioned as I laid my head against the headrest. I placed my hands on the controls that made my arms feel like they were on a nonexistent armrest of a chair and Lilith told me to press a button that was located behind my headrest.

I pressed it with my right hand and noticed the gray walls suddenly turned transparent to the point that one would think that the walls themselves were made out of nothing but crystal clear glass, and a metal cover moved from it's place to cover my legs and lower body as if it were a seat belt. Through the transparent walls I was able to see everything around me as if I wasn't in the E.S. and instead standing on the floor looking around the hanger through my own eyes.

"_This is amazing!_" I thought.

"Ayame. I'm going to teach you how to move the Elias, so listen carefully." Lilith said.

I prepared my ears to listen to my friend's words about how to maneuver the E.S.

"The controls in front of you are quite simple. You roll the black handle that your hands are gripping to move, rolling it forward causes the E.S. to move forwards while rolling it backwards causes it to go backwards as if in reverse. To move to the left you move your left hand control handle to the left as if you were holding your arms out to the left, while doing so with your right hand control handle does the same if you want to go right. E.S.s also have the ability of flight, you know. So in order to fly upwards you move both control handles upwards, while moving the control handles downwards causes you to fly down. You can still move forward, backwards, left, and right while flying, so remember what I said and you'll be fine."

"Okay. It seems pretty easy from what you explained to me."

"Good."

Suddenly a screen of Jr.'s face appeared in front of us and I couldn't help but jump at it's unsuspected appearance. I assumed that the screen itself was a communication screen like the one I've seen everyone use on the Durandal.

"Looks like you're acquainted with the E.S., Ayame." Jr. said, his image looking at me. "So Lilith's having you taking care of the navigational control. Did she tell you how to use them?"

"Yes." I answered as I nodded my head. "From what she explained to me about the controls, it seems like it'll be pretty easy."

"That's good to know." Jr.'s gaze turned to look down at Lilith. "You better keep her safe, you got that?"

"Yeah, yeah! I got it, Red. She'll be perfectly fine with me around." Lilith said casually.

"You better. Now we're ready to head out."

With that the communication screen disappeared and I saw the other E.S.s moving towards the hatch, which was now open.

"Okay, Ayame. I want you to follow the others through that hatch. Think you can do it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then you know what to do."

I rolled both the handle grips forward so that I maneuvered the Elias off away from the stand. Once I did that, I moved the left control handle to the left so that the E.S. turned to face the hatch and moved forward until I was outside the Elsa.

"_This is pretty easy._" I thought.

"Congratulations, Ayame. You managed to successfully maneuver an E.S. on your first try. I must admit I'm impressed."

"Thank you, Lilith." I said.

I continued to follow the others through the Ormus Stronghold (which I knew from what Lilith had said.).

* * *

ATE: This took me awhile to type this up. It was interesting writing how to pilot the E.S. and the name Elias was an idea from my friend. When I was watching the cutscenes in Xenosaga involving the inside of the E.S.s I noticed that they weren't seats but you were more like leaning than sitting. And yes I used Weltall-Id from Xenogears and she agreed when I showed her the picture.

Please Review! :)


	11. Chapter 11

ATE: Chap 11 is finally finished and uploaded. I'm sorry if it took long, but it's not exactly easy to write the battles that takes place in this chap, especially the E.S. battle against the Pilum and the Scutum. And in this chap Lilith will be seen fighting in a battle as well with her weapons (all thought of by my friend). Now enjoy reading this chap.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga or Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. I only own my OCs, while my friend (my self appointed editoress) owns Lilith.

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Chapter 11

It was after having left the Elsa through the hatch that we had started making our way through the Ormus Stronghold in the E.S.s. During that time I had been able to practice maneuvering the Elias as we followed the others who were just in front of us. It was when we had encountered our first enemy that I had a little difficulty navigating due to the fact that I had to react quickly, but thanks to Lilith I was able to respond fast enough to avoid getting ourselves hit. Ever since that first fight we had encountered more than enough enemies for me to finally get used to having to react quickly to avoid their attacks while Lilith did her job at taking them out.

After some time we all stood on an elevator (which we had activated earlier) as we rode it up to a door. Once we had reached the top we moved our E.S.s through the door and into a vast room, with what appeared to be a switch on the wall ahead of us. We started to approach the switch on the wall when I heard a hissing sound and we all turned around to see that the door suddenly closed.

"My name is Richard!" Suddenly we saw the two A.M.W.S. Pilum and Scutum drop from the ceiling and land in front of us. "I assume you remember. I'm sorry, but I have no time for games. Honestly, I grow weary of these encounters. I've had enough of you!"

Now we had no choice but to fight both the Pilum and Scutum at once, but in my opinion we had the advantage due to it being four against two in this battle. I wasn't having any difficulty this time in reacting to dodging the two A.M.W.S.s' attacks when needed, and once or twice I sometimes had close call when a missile almost hit the Elias.

"Hehehe... destroy everything!" Richard said.

Suddenly the Pilum went off until he stood near a corner of the room and stuck his sword in the ground before four optic screens appeared in front of the A.M.W.S.

"Richard! You can't use that weapon in here!" Hermann's voice cried.

"Stay back!" Richard said as he pressed each of the screens like they were buttons.

"Richard, please stop! Richard--!"

The Pilum pressed the red button that appeared after he pressed all the optic screens only for a giant cannon to appear out of nowhere and fell into his hands. To my horror he took aim at the Asher and before I knew it the blast from the A.M.W.S.'s cannon hit the dark blue and black E.S. and caused damage to it, along with blowing a hole in the wall which I could see the black hole outside the Ormus Stronghold. I couldn't help but stare wide eyed at the hole that the blast had made.

"_That cannon is powerful enough to blast a hole in the wall?!_" I thought.

I looked over to where the Asher was to my left and my eyes widened at the sight of it. There were some areas that were opened, revealing some circuits and sparks due to the damage from that blast. The condition of the E.S. worried me to the point that I feared both Jr. and chaos might've been hurt from the attack. I suddenly felt anger as I turned to face the Pilum and Scutum and gripped the navigational control handles tightly with my hands. I…I wanted them to suffer for what they did to my friends.

I stared at the two A.M.W.S.s through the Elias' clear wall ahead of me before closing my eyes shut. I opened them again only to find that I didn't see the inside of the E.S. that I was piloting or Lilith at all. It was like I wasn't inside the Elias at all and instead was standing inside the room in person as if I was outside the E.S.

"What the…?!" I heard Hermann say very clearly. "What's happening to that E.S.?!"

I suddenly flew at the Scutum at an alarming rate that surprised even myself and felt myself automatically use my arm to slash the A.M.W.S. with a sword with a wide blue beam, causing a great amount of damage to my opponent. While that happened I had noticed that my arm was metallic with the colors navy blue and silver with a golden foreign script written on it, and I suddenly realized with surprise that it was the Elias' arm. I was still piloting the E.S., but this felt like I was wearing an invisible suit of armor that didn't weigh me down.

"_I am literally one with the Elias…_" I thought amazed.

_(Jr.'s POV)_

"_Dammit!_" I thought angrily.

How could I let him hit us like that?! I gritted my teeth as I growled in my anger while gripping the control handles tightly, one because he hit us with that huge cannon, and two because the Asher took damage from the blast along with the wall which now had a hole in it. Now we would be momentarily immobile from that attack and would be entirely useless! I then remembered my companion inside the E.S. with me and looked up to the seat he sat in above me.

"chaos, are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm okay, Jr. How about you?" He asked.

"Peachy."

I tore my gaze away from chaos to see how everyone was doing when I spotted the Elias. Ever since we had all left the Elsa in our E.S.s Ayame had been doing an amazing job in piloting hers and Lilith's E.S. as if she had done it for some time. During our first encounter with some enemies she had appeared to have some trouble trying to react fast enough to dodge them, but thanks to Lilith (as much as I hated to admit it) she had been able to improve her piloting skills in an E.S. very quickly despite having amnesia.

Right now the Elias wasn't moving at all and instead seemed to be facing the E.S. chaos and I were inside off. I mentally cursed when I realized why. Ayame had seen the Asher get hit by that cannon's blast and I could already imagine her face as if she were standing in front of me; her normally kind and cheerful facial expression replaced with worry and fear as her wide blue eyes expressed her emotions strongly.

"_She must think I'm weak…_" I thought.

As I continued to stare at the Elias I watched as it turned to face the two A.M.W.S.s, but what happened next surprised me. The Elias started to glow with a faint silver aura and huge light blue beams of light came out of the back of the E.S. with three of the beams on each side, making them look more like wings than the metal extensions did on the machine previously. Just looking at the Elias in the state that it was in right now made me think of when Ayame had changed into that angel like form in the Encephalon Dive with the way the wings looked along with the silver aura around it.

"_Is it possible that Ayame's causing this to happen to the Elias?_" I thought.

"What the…?!" Hermann suddenly said. "What's happening to that E.S.?!"

I watched as the Elias suddenly flew at the Scutum so quickly that it shocked me and slash the A.M.W.S. with a sword with a wide blue beam that the speed itself seemed impossible to me. The attack caused a great amount of damage to the Scutum that it caused it to shut down in defeat. Not even the armor field that it had placed on itself was enough to stop the damage it took. I betting Richard was mad about his buddy Hermann being defeated.

"I'll smash you to pieces." Richard said as he attempted to attack the Elias. The E.S. suddenly disappeared at the last second and the Pilum started to look around wildly for it. "Where did it go?!"

Suddenly the Elias appeared behind him and slashed the A.M.W.S. before it even had a chance to turn around and attack with the beam sword and ended up shutting the system down due to the damage it had taken. After the Pilum was taken care of the wings that were emitting from the back of the Elias disappeared along with the silver aura that came with it. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

_(Ayame's POV)_

After having taken down the Pilum I closed my eyes and opened them again to find myself back inside the E.S. again with Lilith in the seat below me and I relaxed my grip on the navigational controls when I noticed how tight I was holding them. I felt a little exhausted now for some reason and I didn't know why.

Suddenly a communication monitor appeared in front of me and Lilith to reveal Jr.'s face, a somewhat concerned expression on his face.

"Are you okay, Ayame?" Jr. asked. "What was that you just did?"

"I'm fine, but…I don't know what I did…" I answered. What was that I just did?

Jr. looked at me for awhile before looking down at Lilith, a heavy silence having fallen around us. I felt confused as I continued to watch Jr. look at Lilith, but no words were exchanged between them, not each a sound to hint what was going on.

_(Jr.' POV)_

It was after Ayame answered that I had stared at her for awhile before turning my gaze to Lilith.

"_Do you know what happened, Lilith?_" I asked my sister telepathically.

"_I'm not so sure what happened myself, Red._" She answered me back. "_One minute she was freaking out and the next she was glowing and piloting the Elias like she's been doing it for years. I barely was able to react since it happened so fast._"

For once Lilith hadn't been sarcastic to me. I'm surprised.

"_Maybe it had something to do with that angel form she had changed into before._"

"_Angel form? What angel form?_" Lilith response sounded a little suspicious to me for some reason.

"_Nothing important for you to know._" I answered.

"_Now what you said sounded quite suspicious._"

And now she was being sarcastic again...

"_Oh yeah? Well, I could say the same to you, _Lilith_!_"

"_Whatever. I think Ayame's starting to get worried about how quiet we've been while talking telepathically._"

With that she broke the telepathic connection we had. I tore my gaze away from Lilith to look over at Ayame as a thought crossed my mind. What has been happening to her lately?

_(Ayame's POV)_

After a while Jr.'s gaze met mine again.

"You did a great job, Ayame." He said.

I was about to respond to his comment when the communication monitor disappeared before I even got the chance to do so. I sadly hung my head as I started to wonder why he did that all of a sudden. Was it something I did?

"Get a move on, Ayame!"

"What?" I asked as I looked down at Lilith.

"I can understand your confusion at the moment, but are you, by any chance, going to make the Elias move before we get left behind by the others?" Lilith asked.

I looked up and saw that the Zebulun had just left through the door. I quickly followed them out the door where we joined them on the elevator and rode it down with them. I continued to follow them through a series of pathways before we all came to a elevator that went down for some time (while I couldn't help but think it would be a long drop if someone fell down). After having gotten to the bottom, we went through the door until we came into a room where we had no choice but to leave the E.S.s behind so we could proceed deeper into the Ormus Stronghold.

As we all walked down the corridors I noticed that Jr. was all the way in the back of the group (I was with Lilith near the front) with an unreadable expression on his face. I felt concern for him so I made my way over to where Jr. was in the back so I could walk with him. Even after I had done this he didn't seem to notice that I was there.

"Jr., is something wrong?" I asked.

Jr.'s head shot up when he heard me and turned to looked at me from where I was standing on the right side of him, only to look away from me again. I suddenly felt worried and somewhat hurt from this so I took grabbed a hold of his right hand with my left. He didn't attempt to hold mine so his hand remained somewhat limp in my grasp.

"Don't you remember what I told you?"

Jr. didn't say anything.

"I had told you that if you ever needed to talk about anything, I would be there to listen to you. You can tell me anything, Jr., no matter how small."

I gave Jr.'s hand a gentle squeeze, thinking that it would help to reassure him into talking to me. But when he didn't say anything I stopped my gentle squeeze as I felt even more hurt than I had before and my heart seemed to feel heavy. Sadly, I started to pull my hand away from his when I suddenly felt Jr. grasp my hand in his. I looked down at our hands and felt my face heat up slightly when I felt him squeeze my left hand with his warm one this time, the stomach-flipping feeling coming back to me again. I looked up to his face to see that he was facing forward with his head hanging slightly and his eyes downcast.

"You probably think I'm weak from what happened earlier, don't you?" He whispered.

"No. I don't think you're weak at all, Jr." I answered quietly, giving his hand a squeeze again. "You were just caught off guard, that's all."

Jr. chuckled quietly, but there didn't seem to be any humor in it.

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

"Jr. Please stop blaming yourself for what happened. If I could I would have taken the blow for you, but it was already too late when Richard aimed that cannon at you. Yes, I was worried about you and was scared that you may have been hurt, but every time something like that happens you always seem to jump back in and somehow manage to always surprise me with your brave and energetic personality. And that's one of the things I admire you for."

Jr. turned his head slightly to look at me, but I couldn't see much of the left side of his face. His eyes gazed at me in a curious look.

"You…admire me?" He asked quietly.

"Yes. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"N-no there isn't, but…am I the right person for you to admire?"

"You're my friend. How can I not admire you for all the things you've done for everyone, including me?"

I saw Jr. give me a small smile.

"I guess you're right, Ayame."

His head turned to face me more but I spotted something that appeared to be on his left cheek.

"What's that on your left cheek?" I asked.

Jr. seemed to noticed what I meant and quickly turned to look away from me with his eyes downcast.

"I-it's nothing." He said.

I sighed when I heard him say that and I used my right hand to try to turn his face so I could see it but he resisted.

"Jr. Please let me see it?"

I heard Jr. sigh before he stopped resisting so I was able to turn his head to face me. When I did I saw that the spot I had seen was actually a bruise that was starting to form on his cheek.

"I didn't want you to worry." He stated, looking at the ground.

"I seem to be worrying about you a lot today, don't I?"

"It would seem that way."

I gave him a smile as I place my right hand gently on the now forming bruise and used Medica M on it. When I was done I took my hand away and saw that the bruise had disappeared.

"Thanks, Ayame."

"You're welcome. You've done the same thing for me as well that one time."

"You're right."

I continued to hold Jr.'s hand as we followed the rest of the group deeper into the stronghold. We soon came into an area with teleporters and had to navigate our way through it until we managed to get to the top core area, and passed through the doorway that was there. Inside we came into a room where we were standing at the top of the steps, which led down into the bigger room, where a woman was kneeling in the center of the room.

"Welcome to this holy confessional." She said coldly. "Come in, you filth."

"What?" Jr. questioned.

Jr. started heading down the stairs with us following behind him and into the room.

"There is nothing to fear. No matter what you do, there is no escape from this place. Now, confess your sins. I will listen to anything, even from the mouths of foul beasts like you."

"You damn bitch!" Jr. sounded angry as he walked closer to the woman. I walked over to stand next to Jr. and placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

"I see. You do not wish to admit your sins. You will leave me no choice but to rip you apart."

The woman got up from where she was kneeling and turned to face us as her eyes opened to reveal menacing green eyes. In her left hand she held a dagger and in her right held a green beam sword with the green beam being curved. It was when her eyes settled on me that I had briefly caught a hint of surprise before it disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Project Eden? No, the chosen one. It is an honor to finally meet you."

I couldn't help but feel confused.

"Chosen one? What are you talking about?" I asked in my confusion.

"You are the one who will lead us to the holy land of Lost Jerusalem. Tell me, where is Lost Jerusalem?" She asked.

"_What?_" I thought. "_Why is she asking me where Lost Jerusalem is?_"

How was I supposed to reply to a question I didn't even know the answer to in the first place? The confusion I felt wasn't helping me at all.

"I…" I started, looking at the ground. "I-I don't know…"

"It would seem you don't remember." She said indifferently. "Then stand aside while I take care of the sinners, chosen one."

I lifted my head up to look at the woman when I realized what she meant. I stood in front of Jr. and took out the Shiruba from my holster in gun form.

"Chosen one. You would choose to side with these filthy heretics?"

"Those 'filthy heretics' happen to be my friends. I will not stand by and watch as you hurt them."

"I see. Then it would appear I will have to strike you down as well."

The woman started to run at me with her weapons ready to strike me. As she got closer she was about to hit me when all of a sudden Lilith appeared in front of me and blocked the woman's attack with two daggers.

The daggers appeared to be old and made out of silver with symbols engraved on the sharpened blades that were longer than a normal dagger's blade (AN: like the daggers from Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion). At the moment Lilith was standing up straight with her arms crossed along with the blades in order to block her opponents blade from striking.

"Back off, nut job!" Lilith said. "Ayame get as much distance as you can from this psycho and use Analysis."

"Okay."

I ran as far as to the wall and turned around to see Lilith slightly crouching, the dagger in her left hand was facing backwards in the same direction as her back while the other dagger was being twirled in her right hand. Still slightly crouched she ran up to the woman and quickly slash her, her movements lithe and fluent. I remembered what Lilith wanted me to do so I used Analysis on the woman and found out that her name was Orgulla. I aimed both of guns at Orgulla pulled the triggers, successfully hitting her with my attack. It was after I attacked that I saw some sparks around Orgulla and she seemed to twitch.

"Stay out of this, Manes!" I could hear her say.

When she had stopped twitching she lifted her head up and I noticed that her eyes were now blue instead of green, and her curved green beam sword changed to a straight blue beamed sword that she held with both hands. She suddenly rushed at me as I quickly changed my guns to swords and placed them up before she could strike me with her weapon. Using all my strength I managed to push Orgulla's sword away before slashing with the sword in my right hand. It was after I had done that when Orgulla attempted to strike me, bringing her blade down in a wild and aggressive way as I blocked every attack with my swords while occasionally jumping out of the way.

As I tried to fend her off I noticed from the corner of my eye that Lilith was making her way behind Orgulla while Jr. and MOMO aimed at her. I knew immediately that I was being distracting for this dangerous woman and I kept it up until Lilith was only a few feet away from her before rushing up and slashing Orgulla with her daggers as Jr. and MOMO shot at her. It was from this combined attack that had finished Orgulla off, leaving her dead on the ground.

"…That was close." I sighed as I changed the Shiruba back to guns before placing them in their holster. "Too many close calls to count today."

"Are you okay, Ayame?" Jr. asked, coming over to me.

"I'm fine, Jr."

I noticed Lilith going over to one of the energy conduits and suddenly slashed it with her daggers, causing all of them to shut down.

"What the hell did you do, Lilith?" Jr. asked wide eyed.

"I destroyed the energy conduits. What did it looked like I was doing, Red?" Lilith asked.

"And why?"

Lilith turned to Jr. and placed her daggers away before placing her right hand on her hip.

"Because I felt like it. Why did you think I did it? Did you think I did it 'cause I wanted to? No! I did it because we had to!"

"But why?"

"Again with the 'why?' questions! In case you didn't noticed, my destroying those energy conduits is what's helping us to get to the core so we can destroy it!"

"And how do you know that?"

"It's on that plaque on the wall!" Lilith said as she pointed to the wall that was near her. Upon looking closer you could see something written on it.

"Oh…"

It was with that that we left the room so that we were back outside and took the yellow teleporter to the lower core room in the water. After we went inside we all saw the self-destruct device.

"This looks like the center of the stronghold." Shion stated.

"And luckily enough, it comes with a self-destruct device." Ziggy said.

"All right, let's light it up and blow this thing to hell!" Jr. said. "We'll show 'em!"

After some time we managed to solve the puzzle of the self-destruct device by connecting the correct fuses, successfully activating it.

"Okay, this place is going up in 30 minutes." Jr. stated. "Let's get out of here and go back to the Elsa!"

Suddenly an announcement of the self-destruction of the Ormus Stronghold was heard and we didn't have to think twice before we began to get out as fast as we could in the 30 minute time limit we had. After our long trek back we eventually got back to our E.S.s and we quickly got inside. We made our way back to the room with the elevator, but before we could use it, that E.S. that we had encountered back on Second Miltia appeared high above the area of the Ormus Stronghold.

"Really! Neither my subordinates nor the Patriarch's toys are of any use." I heard the voice of that woman say. "The Inquisition will not allow you to escape."

The brown E.S. descended towards us.

"Disengage your weapons and surrender!" The Asher fired its machine gun at the brown E.S., but the attacks missed the enemy as it evaded them. "I repeat. Disengage your weapons and surrender!"

The brown E.S. held its spear and we knew that we would have to fight it, and we had to make it fast if we wanted to get out of the stronghold before it gets blown up.

We all started to fight the E.S. (which I learned was called the Issachar), Lilith taking care of the weapons while I maneuvered the Elias in accordance with what attacks my partner would use or when I needed to avoid an attack from our enemy. I've noticed that I've been doing better with my piloting skill inside the E.S.

After some time into the battle the Ormus Stronghold started to blow up gradually and I knew immediately that we had wasted too much time fighting the Issachar.

"I'm terribly sorry but I can't allow you to escape." The woman said. "This fortress has already begun to disintegrate. It's only a matter of time before it's swallowed by the Abyss. It'll be a fitting memorial to you. I suggest you spend your final moments praying for a peaceful slumber."

It was with that that the E.S. Issachar ascended away from the area we were in as the stronghold continued to collapse.

"Shion, I recommend a swift retreat." KOS-MOS stated. "This structure will not hold much longer."

"I know." Shion said. "Let's hurry on back to the Elsa."

We became to rush back to the Elsa and we quickly got inside through the hatch that was open. Once inside we hurriedly got out of our E.S.s after placing them back on the stands and we all rushed to the Bridge.

"Hurry, Captain! We're going to be pulled into the Abyss with the Fortress!" Shion said urgently.

"Shut up, I know!" Matthews yelled before turning to Tony. "Tony, what's up?"

"It's no good, Captain." Tony said. "The Logical Drive was damaged in the battle. We don't have enough thrust. Hammer!"

"I'm working on it!" Hammer said as he typed at the console he sat at. "Damn, thrust is down 40%. It's no good. She's still dropping!"

"What the? Who the hell slammed the ship into this place, anyway?"

"Well it was the Captain's idea, but Tony, you're the one who did the slamming!"

"Shut up!" Matthews yelled, sounding like he had had enough. "Quit your bitching and do something already! You wanna die here?!"

As the Ormus Stronghold started to blow up we all felt the impact from inside the Elsa.

"We're losing it, Captain. We can't get away!" Tony cried.

"At this rate, we're not gonna last another minute!" Hammer stated.

We felt the impact of another explosion and the ship shook violently.

"Damn. So, this is it, huh…" Matthew said, sounding hopeless.

Suddenly the Elsa jerked forward and I thought that we would fall into one of the black holes, but something prevented the ship from falling. Through the windshield I could see the Ormus Stronghold blowing up from below us.

"Hey, what the hell's goin' on?"

"Captain, look!" Shion cried.

As I looked through the windshield I noticed a huge red mass, my eyes widened when I recognized what it was.

"It's the Durandal!" Jr. exclaimed.

After a few minutes a communication monitor appeared with Mary and Shelley on the other end.

"Hey, Mary."

"Oh, Little Master! Thanks goodness you're okay." Mary said.

"What the heck are you guys doing here, anyway?" Jr. asked.

"What? We came here to rescue you!"

"Yeah, and I'm grateful for that… But don't you think your timing was a little too perfect?"

I suddenly noticed Tony and Hammer dancing around in circles with their arms hooked. As I watched I couldn't help but find it funny but at the same time I was trying so hard not to laugh at them.

"_Don'tlaugh,don'tlaugh,don'tlaugh!_" I thought as I tried to hold back the laughter. But as I continued to tell myself this, my resistance started to disappear.

I suddenly felt a foot step on my foot but not enough to cause me any pain. I looked up and saw Lilith staring at me with a stern look on her face.

"Thank you." I said quietly.

"Thank me later." She said.

"Master Gaignun instructed us to come here." Shelley said. "He said if we let the Little Master handle everything, he was bound to do something reckless."

"And it looks like he was right, huh?" Mary asked.

"Naaah! He's always treating me like a kid." Jr. stated. "So, where's the big shot at now, anyway?"

"Master Gaignun said he had important business to take care of. He took off for the Federation capital."

"Fifth Jerusalem? What's he doing there at a time like this? Geez…and he's calling me reckless?"

We all heard a sound.

"Elsa recovery complete." I heard a voice say in the background.

"All right! Let's go back to the Foundation at max speed." Mary said. "If we hang around here, we're gonna get sucked into the Abyss, too."

With the Elsa finally inside the Durandal, the huge red ship boosted away at max speed as the Ormus Stronghold fell into the black holes as it disappeared.

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ATE: This took two days to finish, and I had help from my friend when it came to Lilith's dialogue. You probably noticed what's been happening throughout the chap and if you have then great! Please Remember To Review! :)


	12. Chapter 12

ATE: Wow this is officially the longest chap I've written for this story. This was about 23 microsoft document pages long! It took two days for me to finish writting that I had spent the night at me editoress' house just for the help last night. Enjoy reading what feels like the world's longest chap.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own my OC Ayame, while my editoress own Lilith.

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**Chapter 12**

Inside a dark room on Fifth Jerusalem, Gaignun sat in a chair in front of a console acting really strangely as he held his head. As this happened he had a flashback.

_14 years ago at the Yuriev Institute, Nigredo approached Citrine who was leaning against a pillar in the courtyard of the Institute._

"_You're just like us." She said, turning her head to look at him with her hazel eyes._

"_Like you?" He asked confused._

"_Code name: Red Dragon." She pushed away from the pillar she had been leaning against and stood in front of the dark-haired boy. "A useful, yet dangerous creature with the potential to lose control. Our duty is to manage and subdue the Red Dragon's violent nature. Don't you think it's strange? The way you don't react to the U-DO simulator?"_

"_Wha…?" Nigredo's eyes widened when he realized what Citrine meant. "You don't mean…"_

"_That's right. Red Dragon… Red…and precious."_

The flashback ended only to be replaced with another flashback as Gaignun held his head with both hands this time.

_In was back in the Yuriev Institute and Nigredo was up against the door in fright as he looked up at Dr. Yuriev and the strange people that stood with his father._

"_Nigredo, come here." Dr. Yuriev said as he held his hand out and waited patiently for Nigredo to approach him. But the dark-haired boy was still frightened._

"_No!" Nigredo shook his head wildly, refusing to listen to his father. "I'm abandoning my mission!" _

_He quickly pulled out a gun from behind him and aimed it at the older man. _

"_I won't follow your orders anymore!" He yelled in an outburst. The sound of the gun echoed after having pulled the trigger._

The flashback ended and Gaignun continued to hold his head as it seemed to be filled with nothing but tremendous pain. He staggered out of the chair he had been sitting in only to fall to the floor soon afterwards. As he laid on the floor in pain his head started to turn a bright yellow as a light slowly covered his entire body.

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I stood with Shion, KOS-MOS, Jr. and chaos as we rode the elevator up to the Bridge of the Durandal. When we finally got to the top we started walking over to where Shelley said with Mary walking with us as will.

"So what's the enemy's status?" Jr. asked.

"I'm afraid I don't have very good news." Shelley answered as she turned to look at Jr., who now stood next to the seat that the purple haired woman sat in. "The Immigrant Fleet has already descended into Miltia."

"Damn." Jr. scratched the back of his head. "We don't have much time. If we don't hurry, we're gonna lose the Zohar." He turned to Mary. "Move the Elsa into the Foundation's dock. Have it repaired to Captain Matthews' specifications. We're goin' right back out."

Mary nodded before walking over to the elevator and rode it down.

I ringing sounded out and Shelley looked over at the console.

"Little Master, there's a transmission from Helmer." Shelley stated. "Shall I accept it?"

"Yeah, hook us up."

Shelley pressed a button on the console and a communication monitor of Helmer appeared in front of it.

"Helmer. I'm sorry." Jr. apologized. "We let them get ahead of us."

"It's all right. It's more important that you're safe. I'm glad you made it back." Helmer said.

"So, what's the situation now?" Jr. cocked his head to the side as he crossed his arms.

"I'm afraid the news is grim. It seems the Parliament's been thrown into complete disarray."

"What's going on with the Federation fleet? Don't tell me they're just standing around watching?"

"No, they've already been deployed on a descent mission, but it's too late. As long as the possibility exists that the enemy already has the Zohar, the Federation can't make any large-scale overtures."

"So I guess it's up to us now." Jr. said as he scratched the back of his head.

There was a brief pause.

"I'm acutely aware of the danger, but there's no one else we can turn to right now." Helmer stated. "Please lend us your aid."

"All right. We'll get the Zohar. You can count on it."

Jr. ended the transmission with Helmer and walked over to where Shion, KOS-MOS, chaos and myself waited.

"So. Are you guys ready to go?" He asked.

We all nodded and soon we proceeded to the Elsa which was now repaired after having taken damage earlier. We all went into the Bridge where the crew was waiting.

"Dammit! I just had this ship remodeled, and it got wrecked again! Well, at least that old man who joined the crew could fix it." Matthews said. "So, want to head for Old Miltia now?"

"Yes." Shion replied.

"Okay! Tony! Hit it!"

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Back on Fifth Jerusalem, Gaignun stood in front of a communication monitor talking to a soldier, but his hair was now blonde instead of it normal black hair.

"It's good to see you awake again, Dr. Yuriev." The soldier said.

"Sorry I'm late." The voice of Dmitri Yuriev said through Gaignun's body. "I didn't think it would take this long for me to recover. How's the situation?"

"Extremely chaotic, sir. The Federation's grown tired over the past fourteen years and many unstable factions have arisen."

"And U-DO?"

"Fourteen years ago, one of the U.R.T.V.s made partial contact with it, causing a medium-scale space-time anomaly alteration. Since then, it's been obstructed by two black holes. Even now we cannot confirm the state of its existence."

"All right. Ready my forces. I'll contact you again shortly."

"Yes, sir." The soldier said. "By the way, how are you feeling? I heard your old body was disposed of."

There was a brief pause between the two men.

"I feel great. There's only so much lifespan-extension one can achieve. But now I'm fine. Thanks to my son." Yuriev said. "That is…the son who killed me."

-----------------------------------------

I had stood on the Bridge of the Elsa looking out the windshield as we took off. I had found it interesting to watch as we flew away from the Durandal in order to reach Old Miltia. As I gazed into space as the stars passed by the ship as it flew I couldn't help but feel like someone staring at me from behind, so I turned around and I could see Canaan leaning against the wall near the door, his golden eyes staring at me. I was confused why he did this so I walked over to him.

"Your name is Canaan, right?" I asked. The Realian nodded his head in response to my question. "Is there something you need?"

"No." He said as he closed his eyes. Canaan hung lowered his head and appeared to be thinking before he lifted his head up again and opened his eyes. "I couldn't help but noticed what my scanners said when I spotted you. They tell me that you're known as both Ayame and Project Eden."

"That's true. Do you know anything about Project Eden?"

"Not much. Only as much as everyone else knows."

I hung my head as I stared at the floor. I thought I would be able to know more about Project Eden from Canaan.

"I understand that you want to know more about who you really are, but I believe that you may find the answers on Old Miltia."

I lifted my head to look up at the Canaan again. I suddenly had a question to ask the Realian.

"How is it that you know Jr.?"

"It happened on Old Miltia during the Miltian Conflict fourteen years ago…" He began

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"_What you're seeing here is actual footage from the violence that erupted before dawn this morning. These seemingly coordinated Realian attacks were reported throughout Federation territory, prompting government officials to consider this movement an act of terrorism." The newscaster explained as the monitor showed a riot of Realians in the city. "Their response to these Realians has been—There's been a new development…" The camera zoomed in on a group of Realians attacking a car and another group upturning another car. "As internal agencies continue to analyze these violent events, a flash action report within the Federation—and obtained by this station—indicates that only Realian models created within the last two years or those receiving adjustments in the Miltian Star System have been implicated. Although this is not a complete list, we have obtained a partial list of units matching these criteria. This list includes… DZ-1006448, DZ-2000330, DZ-1001007."_

_Canaan watched the news on the monitor while he was getting himself prepared. The news on the monitor changed to show Helmer's face._

"_Today was just the beginning of the ensuing violence." He said. "These Realian outbreaks are spreading like wildfire. They'll be reading off plenty more model numbers in the media tomorrow, I can assure you."_

"_So, what does that have to do with the operation?" Canaan asked. "I'd like to know why I was chosen for this mission. I'm told that the military has detained all of its Realians. I find it difficult to believe that they don't have any misgivings about us."_

"_Canaan, you're a Realian who's been especially created and configured by Vector, itself. I've been given the CEO's personal guarantee that you won't be affected like the others."_

_Canaan heard someone come into the room he stood in._

"_Besides, no ordinary pilot could possibly control your craft. That makes you very vital to the operation." The person said._

_Canaan turned to look at the person that came in and saw that it was a boy with dark skin and white hair._

"_I don't believe you two have been properly introduced yet. This is chaos. He'll be joining you onboard as your navigator."_

"_I appreciate the offer, but you may want to reconsider. A regular human can't ride in that thing."_

"_Right. That's why I'm here. Don't worry." chaos stated._

"_All right, it's settled then. Good luck to both of you." Helmer said._

_Canaan and chaos had later gotten inside the E.S. Asher and where now in the cockpit._

"_As mentioned in the briefing, this is a top-secret mission. All IFF code transmitters will be switched off, and under no circumstances will you receive backup from this vessel." The operator explained. "You will have to manage your descent and return on your own. You can expect heavy resistance from both U-TIC enemy craft and Federation military units deployed throughout Miltia. It's gonna be dangerous. So watch yourselves out there."_

"_Don't worry, I'm coming back." Canaan stated._

"_Operator, requesting confirmation." A monitor appeared in front of chaos and he started pressing buttons on it. "We are to head to point NN441, correct?"_

"_Correct." The operator answered. "The U.R.T.V. force is currently deployed at the target location. Your primary objective is to retrieve them. Protecting them should be your first priority."_

"_All of them?"_

"_Affirmative. If the situation allows, you will then infiltrate U-TIC's motherframe and acquire the Y-Data—the root of this conflict."_

"_Roger. We'll do what we can."_

"_E.S. Asher start-up sequence complete." Canaan stated. "Requesting launch."_

"_Launch request confirmed. Now guiding E.S. Asher to Deck B."_

_In front of them the ship's dock bay door opened to reveal a sky with a setting sun and the Asher was ready._

"_Defensive shields deployed. Ready when you are." chaos said._

"_Roger. Initiating launch procedure. Good luck!"_

_The Asher took off and descended down the skies._

_The E.S. Asher takes off and descends down the skies as they passed through the clouds that blanketed the city below._

"_Currently passing through the troposphere. Outer hull temperature returning to normal. Adjusting descent path by 0.22. This should get us closer to our target." Suddenly, a monitor appeared in front of chaos and detected enemies in the area. "Approach warning. Incoming craft detected. They're on an intercept course. There are—"_

"_We'll take them all out." Canaan said. "Stop counting and take control of the shields. We'll use the shockwave to gain advantage on them. You've got control of the weapons."_

"_Roger." chaos replied. "It looks like they're unmanned. With no G-force limit, they can outmaneuver us. They might pull some crazy moves out there, so be careful."_

_The enemy mech crafts started firing at E.S. Asher in an attempt to damaged it._

"_It just makes them all the more predictable."_

_Canaan took control of the E.S. in order to dodge the enemies' attacks, while chaos locked on to the target and fired a laser cannon at the enemies, destroying one of them in the process. The Asher fired and destroys the second enemy, and dodged the next enemy attacks while flying past it, quickly turning around and fired the laser cannon and destroying two more mechs. More enemies appeared and the E.S. continued dodging and attacking._

"_There's no end to these guys." chaos said. "And we don't have much A.B.R. energy left, either. Let's find someplace to set it down."_

_More enemies appeared and the Asher dodged more incoming enemy attacks. chaos closed his and as the enemies circled around them, preparing to fire at them. He quickly opened his eyes and fired the laser cannon at four consecutive enemies, destroying all of them in the process. It was like killing two birds with one stone, or in this case, four enemy mechs with one laser cannon blast. Another enemy appeared and the E.S. fired its laser cannon but it missed._

"_We're empty…"_

_The enemy started heading in their direction. Canaan slightly smirked after thinking of an idea before he made the Asher impale the enemy with the laser cannon gun and released the weapon in the process, enemy sparking before it exploded._

"_All enemies destroyed." chaos stated. "It's true. You really are as good as they say."_

"_How are you handling the feedback?" Canaan asked. "You know, a normal person would've probably passed out by now. I don't want you jeopardizing the mission."_

_As the Asher descended a arm blade appeared in the E.S.' right arm and a machine gun appearing in the left arm._

"_I'm fine. It feels like it's had some special tuning, but that just makes it more interesting."_

"_I see. Well, if I get anything unusual from you, I'm cutting the bypass to the navigator immediately. I can operate this thing fine by myself."_

"_Roger."_

_The E.S. landed on one of the city's road, releasing the booster pack in the process before hitting the ground. The city was in a terrible state with buildings burning and evidence of conflict engraved everywhere around them._

"_Looks like we're pretty far out from our objective. Plus, I'd say the defensive network we saw on the way down takes out the idea of an airborne approach."_

"_We'll go by ground then. Fortunately, the rubble from the burned out buildings should provide us enough cover to cross the city unnoticed."_

"_Agreed. We'd better get moving. We don't have much time."_

"_Not much time?" Canaan asked. "Does this have something to do with the U.R.T.V.s? Those designer children?"_

"_Mm-hm. Yes." chaos answered. "That's right. We need to protect them from the coming crisis, if and when it occurs."_

"_You do realize that's a different story from what I heard in my official briefing."_

"_No doubt. As the Federation government's special forces, the U.R.T.V.s were sent in ahead of the invasion. I'm sure you understand what they represent in the conflict against the U-TIC Organization."_

"_Right. I understand that they're bioweapons sent in to sever the link between the U-TIC's mobile weapons fleet and their source of power, the Zohar."_

"_The higher-ups have complete confidence in the U.R.T.V.s—they are the military's trump card. Unfortunately, the brass are also blind to the potential dangers of the U.R.T.V.s."_

"_Fascinating. I hadn't realized the situation was so desperate."_

_Canaan and chaos piloted the Asher into the next area._

"_So tell me…what exactly are we expecting to happen here?" Canaan asked._

"_Well, the problem is that the U.R.T.V.s aren't merely machines. They're real people with their consciousness intact." chaos explained. "The system that currently controls the Zohar was actually designed to be used for the U.M.N. transport system. However…"_

"_Yes?"_

"_Well, they experimented with the transport of living beings numerous times, but every attempt ended in failure."_

"_According to the records, 99.76% of them were killed instantly."_

"_However, it seems that a very rare occasions, there were survivors. They didn't exist as people anymore, though. They were just things, never able to recover their consciousness—the very element that made them human."_

"_Mental breakdown…"_

"_Lieutenant General Helmer concluded that if contact with the system led to the destruction of the human mind, then even the U.R.T.V.s, created as the system's antithesis, might be affected. Therefore, if the U.R.T.V.s were to suffer a mental breakdown, then likely the Zohar, a source of infinite energy, would stand out of control. That would be devastating."_

"_And yet the General Staff's decision wasn't overturned." Canaan stated. "I suppose that's where we come in…"_

_The Asher continued on its way through the ruined city, occasionally encountering enemies along the way. After some time they came to an area that was eerily quiet until a bright light appeared while strange music could be heard, filling the once quiet area._

"_What is it? A pillar of light? And that sound… It's more than that. Music?"_

"_It's…the Song of Nephilim."_

"_You know what it is?"_

"_I can't believe it. Even U-TIC has to be aware of the danger of the song. What could possibly make them…" The pillar of light on the roof of the building brightened and chaos' eyes widened. "No! If this keeps up--"_

_Suddenly an attack blew up a tank truck that was nearby, causing a fire to appear on the highway. Soon enemy A.M.W.S.s appeared and surrounded the E.S._

"_It looks like they think we're the enemy. Any ideas?" Canaan asked._

_The enemies open fired at the Asher, but all of the shots missed the E.S._

"_Yes, send an emergency IFF signal to let them know we're on their side." chaos answered as he activated the console and started typing on it. "We can't let anything stop us. We have to reach our objective."_

_The enemy A.M.W.S. continued to fire on them with machine guns._

"_They should be receiving our IFF signal."_

"_Wait. Something's wrong."_

_The console showed 'Receiving Device' in red letters and showing the soundwaves in emergency status._

"_What is this? What the…what's going on with them?" Canaan asked_

"_This is…" chaos' eyes widened. "It can't be…"_

_Suddenly one of the enemy's attack shot off the Asher's right arm and it lost its arm blade in the process. As the E.S. was kneeling down, Canaan started grasping his head as he felt something strange happening in his mind. _

"_Wait! Canaan, no! Don't listen to it! Close your mind!" chaos cried out urgently._

_The Asher starts to glow as the enemies close in to the downed E.S., only for sword slash marks to suddenly appear on the mechs and destroy them. After regaining his senses Canaan looked up to see an A.M.W.S. with a sword standing behind the smoke that came from what was once the enemies' crafts. _

"_Is he with us?" The Realian asked._

"_I don't know." chaos answered. "But he's broadcasting an IFF."_

"_Attention, unidentified craft. I've reached your IFF signal." A male voice said over the IFF. "The other crafts have been tainted, but you seem unaffected. Are you an ally?"_

"_Well, it looks like this one's still sane. What do you think?" Canaan asked his partner._

"_Getting out of here is our first priority right now. I think we should stick together."_

"_Agreed."_

_The Asher got up from the ground as stood._

"_Confirmed. IFF signal accepted." The pilot of the A.M.W.S. stated. "Stand by. I will now eliminate the affected Federation units."_

_The A.M.W.S. unit quickly turned around and used its sword to slice off the incoming enemy craft's torso as the Asher fired its machine gun at another enemy craft. After the Asher and the A.M.W.S. worked together to destroy the infected enemies, the pillar of light disappeared along with the strange music. The A.M.W.S. unit moved slowly to stand next to the Asher and knelt down as chaos and Canaan got out of their E.S. The pilot of the A.M.W.S. unit got out of the cockpit, but they couldn't see the person's face due to the helmet he wore. _

_Suddenly another infected enemy craft appeared and started reaching its hands out in order to grab the unknown pilot. Attached to the belt around the pilot's waist was a katana. Using his thumb he unsheathed the sword, and before any of the two E.S. pilots knew it the infected enemy craft was sliced in half and destroyed. _

"_Impressive. I guess that pilot is just as effective on foot as he is in his craft." Canaan said._

"_Truly amazing." His companion agreed._

_The pilot jumped down from his A.M.W.S. unit, stood up and took off his helmet to reveal a man in his early twenties with long black hair that was tied in a ponytail to keep it tamed while long side bangs framed his face. The man walked over to them with his helmet held under his right arm._

"_Thanks for the assist." chaos said. "And you're?"_

"_I am Captain Jin Uzuki." The man told them. "You don't look like you're with the regular forces." He looked up to the Asher. "Well, whoever you are, if you're still operational, I advise you to leave. This place…affects people. Some stop being people altogether."_

"_They stop being people?"_

"_Unfortunately, we can't leave." Canaan stated. "Not until we've completed our mission."_

"_Your mission?" Jin asked._

"_Forgive us, Captain. I am chaos, and this is Canaan. I suspect that you're part of the landing operation, aren't you? Do you know where the U.R.T.V. force is now? If so…"_

"_U.R.T.V.s? Ah, the special units—said to possess an anti-U-DO retrovirus."_

"_Our mission is to protect them. Please, if you know where they are, tell us." The Realian told him._

"_Hmph. Well, this is quite a coincidence." The dark haired man stated. It suddenly started to rain, seeming to foreshadow what was to come as Jin looked up at the dark cloudy sky. "Although, it's more than that—fate perhaps. In any case, I will take you."_

_As the chaos and Canaan followed Jin away from the area, the destroyed enemy craft blew up, destroying the highway path that was behind them. Both the Realian and the white haired boy knew that they wouldn't be going back the way they came._

_Some time later they arrived in another area. Ahead the road was blocked by two pillars that had fallen during the conflict._

"_So this entire thing was a set-up?" Canaan asked._

"_Exactly." The dark haired man answered. "It's all part of an attempt to make the U-TIC Organization, or should I say, all of Miltia, into a scapegoat. Even the Realian violence that we're seeing right now is nothing more than a brush stroke in the larger picture."_

"_But who's behind this? And why?" chaos asked._

"_U-TIC is undoubtedly a cover for a greater power still operating in the shadows. I believe that this power is manipulating the conflict between the Federation and the Miltian system, driving a sequence of events in order to get their hands on something very specific."_

"_Like what?" The Realian asked as all three of them stopped walking._

"_The Y-Data."_

"_The Y-Data?" the white haired boy asked._

"_I relieved an operative of this disc. And though I was only able to decode it partially, I discovered that all manner of data from all existing phenomena is gathered together within an area of space. And beyond that lies a special place only described in the Y-Data."_

"_Captain Uzuki, how in the world did you acquire this information?"_

"_I have my ways." Jin told them._

_The group continued to move on until they arrived near a tunnel with a winged statue above the opening. _

"_All right. Here it is. You will find the U.R.T.V.s in the lowest level."_

"_All right." chaos said. "Captain Uzuki, thank you for bringing us this far. We'll take things from here."_

"_Of course. As I said, it was fate. I wish I could go with you further." Jin said. He turned to look at chaos and Canaan to the left of his shoulder and took a data disc out. "However, it's imperative that I complete my work on this data. I want to completely expose the shadow behind this conflict and drag it into the light. To do this, I'll have to access the mainframe here. Also…"_

"_What?" Canaan asked._

_It was quiet as no one spoke a word. Suddenly, lightning struck the winged statue's head and the pieces of the stone image fell to the ground. The smoke from the shattered statue cleared away to reveal a man with burgundy hair wearing a uniform standing in front of the tunnel, his arms crossed and his dark violet eyes narrowed as he glared dangerously at the dark haired man. At his side was a sword._

"_I gave you far too much credit, Uzuki. I thought you were smarter than this. A better thief." The man said. "I never once thought you'd just come walking in through the front door."_

"_Well, I thought you might be getting lonely, Colonel, so I figured I'd come pay you a visit." Jin stated._

"_Hmph. Same old Uzuki. Neither your attitude nor your ability to bluff have shown improvement. No matter. The data you possess is no threat to us. You've got nothing."_

"_Precisely why…I have some unfinished business here."_

"_I see." The man cracked his neck. "You know what this means." The man took out his sword with a sheath and held it in front him before pulling it out furiously. "Uzuki!"_

_chaos and Jin fought the man and after some time Jin jumped up to the upper roof of the tunnel and the man followed after him. The two men begin sword fighting, clashing blades with every attack as chaos and Canaan watched them from where they stood. At one point Jin was up against a pillar and managed to duck down in time to miss his opponents blade from cutting him in half and instead made a scar in the pillar. After a while the colonel shot a fireball at Jin, hitting to the left of dark haired man's body and caused him to get pushed into the pillar that had been cut. The colonel was about to strike Jin when the structure toppled over and man got away before it could crush him. There was a blood wound on Jin's left side as the two stared each other down._

"_You're a sad sight, Uzuki, even with your so-called reinforcements." The colonel stated. "Pathetic. You're out of your league. Why, it's clear now that you never even had a chance."_

"_Captain, you're hurt!" chaos gasped when he saw the wound._

"_It's…it's from earlier." Jin stated, finally feeling the wound on his body. "It's nothing to worry about. If you'll pardon the cliché, it's just a scratch."_

_The ground suddenly started shaking around them and Canaan and chaos almost lost their balance._

"_Hmph. So it's begun." The colonel said as Jin clenched his wound. "This planet is finished. There's no point in staying any longer. I think it's time we ended this…once and for all!" The man readied his sword, Jin doing the same with his katana. "You dare face me, maimed as you are?" The colonel laughed. "The only thing you've mastered is the art of futility."_

"_You never know until you try, Colonel." Jin said lowly._

"_That's enough!"_

_The colonel readied a fireball while Jin readied a ice needle. They both released the attack at each other, causing an explosion. When the explosion faded the two men stood in place before Jin fell to the floor. The burgundy haired man, on the other hand, had received a cut from the dark haired man's attack on the right side of his face, the injury bleeding as the cut ran from the top of his forehead all the way down to the right side of his mouth; the cut even ran down his right eye, which was shut due to the injury. _

_Canaan and chaos ran over to Jin's side and the white haired boy tried to help the dark haired man up._

"_Now you see your death. I have always been your better, in every way, Uzuki. It's something that old fool couldn't--" The colonel noticed that the floor that he was standing on was cracked. "What the—"_

_The cracks on the floor underneath the burgundy haired man spread and group jumped back in time before the floor collapsed. The colonel wasn't as fortunate as the three men were and ended up falling through the hole as the floor collapsed from underneath him._

_When the group made it to safety Jin turned to look at the Realian._

"_Canaan." The dark haired man took out the data disc. "Take this."_

_Canaan plugged the data's plug into his circuit that was on the back of his and took it out after having downloaded the data._

"_Is this…"_

_Holding the data disc in his hand Jin turned around and threw it over the edge of the roof they stood on._

"_Storing it with you is safer than carrying it around. Besides, there's somewhere else I must go."_

"_What?" chaos asked surprised. "You're not serious. Look, we're still mobile, Captain. You could come with us."_

"_No." The dark haired man shook his head. "This is my own way of atonement. I can't turn back now."_

"_But…"_

"_Please, go on. Bring the truth of this conflict—the truth hidden in that data—to light. Please, do this thing for me."_

"_Captain Uzuki…"_

"_I'm counting on you. So, farewell."_

_Jin jumped away from the area, leaving the two behind._

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"…it was some time after Jin left us that we eventually found Rubedo and Nigredo. Afterwards we managed to get to safety and in doing so completed our mission." Canaan finished.

"So that's what happened." I said. "And you also knew chaos and Jin from back then, huh?"

Canaan nodded his head in answer.

"Thanks, Canaan."

It was with that that I left the Bridge and started to make my way to the girl's cabin. It was as I was walking down the hallway when I spotted Lilith leaning against a wall with her arms crossed.

"Hi, Lilith! What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm leaning against a wall." She answered, looking at me.

It was quiet as she stared at me and the intensity of her gaze caused me to shift my feet.

"I…can see that."

"I have a…thing for you to look at."

"A thing? Is it bad?"

"No, it's not bad. I just wanted you to look at something."

"What is it?" I asked.

"A matter of ancient technology that I want you to consider."

Lilith pulled out a small ice blue colored rectangle that was the size of the palm of my hand with a screen on the upper half while the lower half had a round white circle that surrounded a circle that was the same ice blue like the rest of the think. Connected at the bottom of the right corner was a long white cord with what looked like two headphones at the end.

After Lilith pulled the object out she handed it to me and I held it in my hand. I turned it around and I saw white picture of an apple that was bitten out of and below the image was written 'iPod.' In the white circle on the front was the word 'MENU' at the top of the circle, while the left had the 'I' symbol, the right a 'I', and the symbol at the bottom was 'II'.

"iPod?" I thought out loud.

For some reason I turned the object so I was seeing the bottom of the thin side and noticed the tiny round switch, which I moved it to the left side (as I did this, I had the feeling that this would turn it on). But when I moved the switch and looked at the screen I was (for some reason) surprised that the screen didn't light up. The screen was supposed to light up? Why did I think that. And why do I have the feeling that it doesn't have any power?

"I don't think it has any power." I said automatically. I realized what I had said and I felt confused as to why I had said it so casually.

"Power?" Lilith asked.

"Has this been charged" Again what I said came out automatically.

"Charged? Does that have anything to do with this outdated wire?"

At that Lilith pulled out a white wire that had an extension that looked like it was meant to be plugged into a wall, while the other end had a thin metal object that looked like it went into the bottom of the ice blue object where the switch was along with where the headphone wire was connected to.

"That's a charger." I blurted out.

At this Lilith raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting. So you know what this thing is?"

"Not really."

"What do you mean by 'not really'?" Lilith asked.

"I know what it is, yet at the same time I don't know what it is. I recognize what it is along with the familiarity, but I don't remember how."

"Are there more where this came from?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, don't think too hard about it. You'll remember eventually."

"Thank you, Lilith."

Lilith handed me the white wire and I was able to continued my way to the girl's cabin. When I got inside I went over to one of the beds and noticed that there was a wall plug near the bed not to far away and a sudden idea came into my head. I took out the white wire and plugged the metal plug into the wall and connected the other end to the thin bottom of the ice blue object (which I strongly think is in fact called an iPod). It was after I did that that I noticed that the once blank screen lit up to show a menu and on the gray half of the screen written in white letters was 'A.J. iPod'

"_A.J.? What does that mean?_" I thought. "_Could it be someone's initials?_"

I placed the iPod on the nearby counter and laid down on the bed, closing my eyes in order to take a nap.

---------------------------------------

_I opened my eyes to find myself in what appeared to be a black void. As I stood in place I couldn't help but let my eyes slowly roam around to look ahead of me as I felt somewhat cautious._

"_So…you finally decided to come."_

_I gasped, my eyes widening when I heard that voice and quickly whipped around to find the one person that had always terrified me. Standing five feet away from me was Albedo, a smirk on his face as he gazed at me with a obsessed look in his violet eyes. _

_On instinct I pulled my guns out and pointed them at the white haired man that stood in front of me. When he saw me do this, Albedo just tilted his head slightly downwards and shook his head, sighing in mild disappointment._

"_Why is it that whenever I'm around you're always so hostile, mon iris?" Albedo asked. He then looked up at me with a grin. "Although, it seems that you and Rubedo take an interest in fighting with guns. I wonder why?"_

"_He gave me these so I could protect myself!" I tightened my grip on the Shiruba._

"_Oh really? Are you sure that wasn't the only reason he gave them to you?"_

"_What other reason would there be?! He wanted me to be able to defend myself because he's my friend!"_

_Albedo started laughing._

"_Friend?! You really _are_ dense! Even I can see why he gave them to you!"_

"_What?!"_

"_Want me to elaborate? I'd be willing to do so."_

"_No!" I yelled. "I don't need someone as evil as you to tell me what I know or don't know!"_

"_Evil?" He asked. "Must you view me in such a black-and-white way?"_

"_What choice do I have?! The things that you've done to me and my friends can only be described as evil!"_

"_Have you ever thought that I might not be evil? That I might be on the side of good?"_

_I frowned at his question._

"_You? On the side of good?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "Would someone on the side of good strangle their comrade by holding them in the air by their neck, and then punch them multiple times when they're having a hard time breathing from lack of oxygen?"_

"_You fail to see my point."_

"_What are you talking about?! What point?!"_

_Albedo smirked at me and I couldn't help but feel angry at him. I wanted… I wanted him to stay away from me so I would never have to see his face, along with that smirk of his. For some strange I felt like causing him physical harm despite the fact that he couldn't die._

_I suddenly realized, completely shocked with myself at what I had wanted to do to Albedo. Why was I thinking like this? Shakily, I started to lower my guns and placed them back in the holster so I wouldn't be tempted. Albedo must've noticed this since his violet eyes seemed to light up in interest._

"_What's this? Putting your weapons away already, mon iris? Why the sudden change?" The white haired man asked, sounding strangely amused._

"_Just go away, Albedo." I said, narrowing my eyes at him._

"_Sadly, I can't do that. You see I came here for a reason."_

"_What? What reason would you possibly come here for?"_

"_Show me the angel." He said._

"_The…angel…?" I felt confused._

"_The angel that you showed us in the Encephalon Dive. Let's see her again." _

_My eyes widened when I realized what he meant. He was talking about that form I had been in even after having coming out of the Encephalon. _

"_N-no!" I wildly shook my head. "I won't do it!"_

"_No? You don't want to show me? Is it because you don't want to? Or is it…because you don't know how?"_

"…" _I didn't know what to say or how to respond._

"_Do you need some incentive?"_

"_No!" I shut my eyes tightly._

"_I see. That's too bad. Because Rubedo looks like he's about to loose control of himself."_

_My eyes shot opened and saw that the void had been replaced with the familiar snow-covered beach. I looked behind Albedo and my eyes widened when I saw Jr. standing not too far behind the white haired man with the red flames around his body, his back facing us as he yelled uncontrollably._

"_Jr.?! How did you get here?!"_

"This is just like before_." I thought._

"_You better hurry, mon iris! He looks like he won't last much longer!"_

_I started running over to Jr., but Albedo prevented me from reaching him by standing in front of me._

"_Get out of my way!" I yelled as I shoved Albedo out of the way. Surprisingly, I had been able to move him._

_I continued running over to Jr. and I wrapped my arms around his upper half and shut my eyes as I held onto him._

"_Jr.! Please calm down!" I cried. _

_As this happened I could feel power surge throughout my body. Some of the power spread to my back and seemed to go through it at the same time, my hair felt like it was floating in the air._

_I could hear Jr.'s yelling start to decrease until it was finally quieted. After some time I suddenly heard Jr. start to laugh darkly and after awhile it changed until it sounded like the younger Albedo was the one laughing._

"_What's the special occasion, mon iris?"_

_I quickly opened my eyes and saw that instead of holding Jr. I was holding a young Albedo, my eyes widening as he grinned while looking down at me. I shoved him away but all I accomplished was pushing myself away from him and I used this to my advantage to get as much distance as I could._

"_What's the matter?" He asked, still grinning. "You look like you've seen a ghost."_

"_What did you do with Jr.?!" I asked._

"_He was never here to begin with. I have to admit, I'm enjoying your angel form. Those wings seem to suit you."_

"What?_" I thought confused, looking at the ground._

"_But do you know what I'll also enjoy?" I looked up to find the young Albedo standing right in front of me, the grin still on his face. "I'll enjoy what I'm about to do right now!"_

_Suddenly the young Albedo's left hand gripped my arm and with a surprising strength that I thought his childish body wouldn't possess, he pulled me down (because I lost my balance when he did this) and I ended up standing on my knees. As soon as I was on my knees his lips were covering mine and my eyes widened as I gasped in surprise. Albedo had taken this opportunity to slip his tongue inside my mouth and I instantly felt disgusted, but at the same time I…enjoyed it…?!_

"No!_" I yelled at myself. "_I can't let him do this to me again!_"_

_I tried to shove him away from me, but Albedo wrapped his right arm around my waist to prevent me from getting away and to deepen the kiss. I was getting desperate to get away and I suddenly managed to get an idea. _

_Since Albedo's tongue was in my mouth I bit down on it as hard as I could in an attempt to stop him, but I didn't get the desired result I had wanted. Instead Albedo somehow managed to drag my tongue closer to his mouth and bit down on it. My eyes well up when I felt the pain from the bite linger on my tongue and I wanted it all to end._

_When I thought it wouldn't end it did as Albedo pulled away, a grin on his face. I immediately felt disgusted at him for doing such a thing and slapped him hard across the face. His face recoiled from the impact but then he turned to look at me with a wider grin, no hint of pain what-so-ever on his face._

"_I'll be seeing you and Rubedo soon." He said._

"_Huh?"_

_------------------------------------------------------_

I shot up into a sitting position on the bed I laid on, only for me head to connect with something hard. The impact caused my head to fall back onto the pillow while I held my aching head with my right hand, my eyes shut in pain.

"Ow…"As I said this, I heard another voice say the same thing.

"Geez, Ayame! Maybe I should wear a helmet the next time you decide to pull something like that off again!"

I opened my eyes, turning my head in the direction the voice was coming from and found Jr. with his eyes shut as he held a hand to his head. I sat up in bed as he started to open his eyes to look at me.

"I'm sorry, Jr. I didn't mean to." I said.

"You don't need to apologize." He said. "But you must've had one hell of a dream to shoot up like that."

"_Dream_…_?_" I thought, closing my eye.

It was after I closed my eyes that I immediately thought back to what had happened in the dream. Albedo was there and he used Jr. to get me to transform into my angel form. And then it turns out that I was holding the young Albedo and he…kissed me! It didn't help that he used Jr. to get to me and the fact that the young Albedo was the same size as him made it worse.

"_It felt so real…_" I thought as I wasn't able to suppress a shudder.

"What's wrong, Ayame?" Jr. asked.

My head shot up as I opened my eyes to look at him.

"It's…it's nothing."

Jr. stared at me for some time and I couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy from this.

"Alright, if you say so." He said. "By the way, have you remembered anything from your past recently?"

After he had asked that question I suddenly had a flashback.

_I found myself inside a somewhat small room. At the moment I was standing in front of a wall that had what appeared to be a calander hanging from it. As I examined the calander I noticed that it said the month was May and saw that the square that had a '16' was circled in bold black ink. All of a sudden I felt arms wrap around me and hands cover my eyes._

"_Guess who, ______?" _

_I couldn't help laugh._

"_I know it's you, Katie." I said. "There's no reason to play 'guess who'."_

"_But aren't you excited? You're turning 17!"_

"_Yeah, in what seems to be a million years."_

"_Don't be ridiculous, ______! It's only a week from now. Just think about it: your turning 17 on the 16th__ of May!"_

"_Yeah! Well we should be getting to school or we'll be late."_

The flashback ended and I saw a grin on Jr.'s face.

"You had a flashback again, didn't you?" He asked. "What was it about?"

"My birthday." I answered.

"Your birthday?"

I nodded.

"What day is it?"

"Let me see." Jr. took out his Connection Gear and brought up an optic screen. "It's May 11th. Why?"

"My birthday's in five days from now." I said.

"That close?" His eyes widened. "If you hadn't gotten that flashback when you did, we may have missed your birthday. I can't believe it's that close! And on the 16th, too!"

I couldn't help but smile as I watched him.

"But that great!" He continued. "At least we know when to celebrate it!"

I almost felt like laughing at his antics. Almost.

"What to do…" Jr. muttered as he crossed his arms while looking at the ground.

"Huh?" Was my intelligent answer.

Jr. looked up at me and seemed to realized I heard him.

"Uh…n-nothing!"

After saying that Jr. rushed out of the room and I stared at the door in confusion. I began to realize that he had been acting strange lately.

"_But why?_" I thought.

* * *

ATE: We are finally at the end. The idea for Ayame's b-day wasn't from me but from a friend of mine who I shall not name. It is interesting to note and consider Ayame's anger. It's part of a bigger conspiratorial plot (according to my editoress)!!

Please Review! I need them! :)


	13. Chapter 13

ATE: Hey everyone. I finally finished this chap at 11:42 PM tonight, and yes I have been working on this for 3 days again. The last chap (12) really took it out of me since it was so long that I had really deserved the next day to relax. But at least this wasn't as long to type out. I would like to give my thanks to The Duelist Of Dawn and my friend (who's still anoymous reviewer AKA self-appointed editoress) for their reviews of this story. Enjoy.

Warning: There's a referance to the first story in this chap.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga or the series of books called 'How to *insert word* for Dummies'. I only own my OC Ayame, while my friend owns her OC Lilith.

Chapter 13

* * *

I came into the Bridge later to find that we were flying towards what looked like a ruined city submerged in water.

"_Is this Old Miltia?_" I thought.

"Oh, wow! The capital looks like it used to." Hammer said, sounding amazed.

"Everything's exactly like it was then. Time has stopped in this world." I heard Jr. say as he looked out the windshield like everyone else did.

"The country of the hills of Mud, the land of Mu, was sacrificed. Being twice upheaved, it suddenly disappeared in one night. At last the surface gave way…and they sank along with their countries."

"What's that?" Shion asked chaos, sounding puzzled.

"A fairy tale." chaos answered. "A story about a land that vanished into the sea one night, long ago."

"Sacrificed…" Shion turned to look out the windshield at the city. "It definitely feels like it just looking of this place."

"Yes it does."

"Attention passengers. We'll soon be arriving at the designated coordinates." Captain Matthews stated. "There's no way we're gonna get any further in this big hunk of metal. So, if you wanna check inside any of those buildings, you're gonna have to do it on your own."

"All right, let's hurry up and get this over with." Jr. said. "I don't wanna spend too much time here, you know?" We all nodded. "All right! Let's finish this!"

"This area used to be the capital of Old Miltia." Canaan said. "The area up ahead was ground zero fourteen years ago. It was filled with U-TIC Organization facilities. The area that handled the most important research was…"

"Labyrinthos." Jin finished. "The original Zohar should still be sleeping deep inside it."

The Realian turned to look at Jr.

"Rubedo, your objective is to secure the original Zohar, correct?"

"Yeah." Jr. answered. "Shion? Shion, are you all right?"

"What? Ah, yes." Shion said. "Cecily and Cathe may be there as well."

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"No, it's nothing."

"Now we can finally analyze the data in my head." Canaan stated.

"Yes. We should hurry." Jin said.

"I agree. The Immigrant Fleet should already be here, but it's really quiet. That has me worried."

----------------------------------------------------

We left the Elsa through the hatch in our E.S.s. As I followed the others through the Submerged City (I decided to call it this since it was partially flooded), I couldn't help but think of that dream I had earlier.

Albedo had wanted to see that angel form I had and even tricked me into transforming into it by using an illusion of Jr. I still can't believe I fell for it. But he was right when he guessed that I didn't know how to transform into Angel Mode (I'm choosing to call my angel form this name for now on). When I had seen the illusion of Jr. going out of control I had been overwhelmed with suddenly feeling very protective along with being worried about his safety. I had felt that way the first time I transformed inside the Encephalon, along with when we were fighting Richard and Hermann in our E.S.s. I suddenly realized something!

"_Albedo was…trying to help me…?_" I thought, shocked.

I suddenly felt the Elias shake and had realized that it was about to hit the ground. Quickly thinking, I grabbed the navigational controls and managed to upright ourselves just in time to avoid hitting the ground. I sighed in relief, but it was short-lived.

"What is the matter with you, Ayame? What are you doing up there?" Lilith asked as she looked up at me from where she was.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking." I said.

Lilith stared at me.

"Thinking? About what?"

"I was…" I was looking out the window and noticed the city around us. "I was thinking about the city!"

Lilith sighed.

"If you scratch the Elias… you'll be the one repairing it."

"B-but I don't know how to repair an E.S.!"

"Don't worry. I'll give you 'How To Repair E.S.s For Dummies.'"

"I know I have amnesia, but I don't think I'm a dummy." I said.

"Neither do I. But try not to destroy the Elias."

_(Jr.'s POV)_

Some time later we came into an area that had a ship. I was ahead of everyone else as we came closer to the ship.

"Why is this damn thing not working?!" A gruff male voice bellowed.

"External speakers?" I asked quietly.

"We have mobilized all units, but we're all exhausted from training earlier." Another voice said. "May I—"

I cringed when I heard the sound of something being smacked over the external speakers.

"_That sounds painful…_" I thought.

"Line up, maggots! Did you pansies already forget your training?! Do you know how bad you made me look?! Listen to me! What you think means nothing! What you want means nothing! You do as I say! I am the boot in your buttocks! You!" He sounded like he was referring to another person. "What is your problem? Were you born that dumb or did your drunk mama slap you on the wrong end when you squirted out? Why are you laughing? Do I amuse you? I'm tired of all you pantywaist nitwits! You make me physically ill! Drop and give me a million! I will break you!"

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as I listened to this strange conversation.

"_What the hell?_" I thought.

"Enemy unit discovered on deck! Standby!"

"What did you say?!"

"Dammit! They found us!" I exclaimed.

Suddenly a communication monitor appeared in front of me with Lilith's face on it.

"Found us? We've been standing here for five minutes, Red! Technically, they just noticed us, not found us!"

"I know!"

"All hands, prepare for battle!" The gruff voice yelled. "Target the Vector A.M.W.S.!" We watched as the cannons prepared itself and four Kfuga Valys appeared in front of us. "This is not a drill! Show me everything you've got!"

---------------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

It took awhile but we had been able to defeat the ship that was called Nalgfar we continued making our way through the Submerged city. We soon saw what looked like a tower.

"Look. It's the Labyrinthos tower." Shion stated.

"Yeah, we're pretty close now. Better get ready." Jr. said.

"But it doesn't look like we'll be able to go there in our E.S.s." MOMO said.

I looked over to where MOMO was indicating and saw that what MOMO was true. We wouldn't be able to get there in the E.S.s since the path was destroyed.

"Let's look for another entrance." chaos suggested. "There should be a small gap somewhere."

"How about that blockade?" I pointed out. "We could destroy it and get inside that way."

"Good idea. Let's just randomly blow up stuff. No one's gonna see it or hear it." Lilith said. "What's the worse that could happen?"

So we destroyed all the blockades blocking the way to the entrance of Labyrinthos. Afterwards we had no choice but to get out of our E.S.s and climbed the ladder on the platform down into the tower and soon reached the bottom.

"In order to get to the center of Labyrinthos, we'll have to pass through this waterway." Jr. stated.

We proceeded to the area with a water level machine and we managed to adjust it properly to cross the next area. After going through a doorway we found ourselves in a room that had what looked like a huge spider web blocking our way.

"That's odd." Jin exclaimed. "This place somehow feels different than the others."

"You're right." Canaan agreed. "It almost looks like there were people still working here recently."

"Nanomachines gone out-of-control…" Ziggy said.

"I have heard of nanomachines making rooms and passageways on their own." MOMO said.

"No. No, it doesn't feel like that." Shion said. "This is more like…like some sort of consciousness is at work here."

"It's U-DO." Jr. stated. "Its presence has spread this far out."

"It would appear our destination is right in front of us." Canaan observed.

"Yeah. There's no time to lose."

We continued to move on through the place until we came to the next area that had a shuttle, which we took to the Labyrinthos core. The core area was a circular area with the path running around in the same circular fashion as the room. Across from where we stood at the door there was a circular elevator that would probably take us to the lower level, but there was a gate that would prevent us from getting on. Some time after going through a series of puzzle solving to get to the consoles, we managed to unlock the gate to the elevator that would take us to the main terminal and rode it down. We went inside the room at the bottom of the elevator.

"This must be Labyrinthos' main terminal." Canaan stated.

"So it would seem." Jin said. "… Canaan, the powerful protection placed on the data within you uses the wave pattern emitted by the Zohar. We should be able to remove it with this terminal."

"You don't have to explain the details. Just hurry up and get it out."

"Come on, let's get inside!" Shion said.

We opened the central structure and went inside the main terminal room. Once inside Canaan went over to the seat and sat down while Jin approached the console.

"Well, we finally made it." Jin said. "At last, we can set you free from your curse, Canaan."

There was a brief pause as Canaan turned to look at Jin.

"I'd appreciate it if you could hurry." The Realian said. "I really don't want something like this in my head any longer than I need to."

"Hey, just what is the data inside of Canaan, anyway?" Shion asked.

"Put simply, it contains the identity of the mastermind behind the Miltian Conflict." The dark haired man answered as he crossed his arms.

"Hold on a second. The mastermind behind the Conflict was…"

"Mm. The madman, Joachim Mizrahi. At least that's what everyone thinks. But just because most people believe something, doesn't necessarily mean that it's true."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"You're about to find out."

Jin turned to the console and activated it. As the analyzing of Canaan continued, the console's monitor had red texts all over the screen.

"You're familiar with the U-TIC Organization?" Jin asked, turning to face us again.

"Sure. It's the organization established by Joachim Mizrahi to study the Zohar." Shion answered.

"We've gone through hell, thanks to them." Jr. said.

"So what about the U-TIC?"

"The U-TIC Organization was originally a part of the Federation." Jin explained. "Professor Mizrahi was apparently using the data he obtained from studying the Zohar to convert U-TIC into a military organization. But he never actually told the Federation government. He kept them in the dark. But there's something else that's strange about this. It takes an enormous amount of money to fund research and weaponry. Yet, there's no evidence that the Federation ever provided that kind of financial backing."

"So someone else was funding them from behind the scenes?"

"That's right. Almost all of the U-TIC Organization's enterprises were nothing more than dummy corporations. That is, all except one."

"Just one?" Shion asked.

Jin turned to a large monitor with data that had appeared.

"This data includes recorded information regarding a business known as Hyams. It's highly likely that this company was the one that actually provided the money." He turned to us. "And… The head of the Hyams outfit, a man named Heinlein, happens to be one of the cardinals of the Immigration Fleet."

"So, are you saying that the U-TIC Organization has connections to the Immigrant Fleet?" Jr. asked.

"Did Daddy… Did Daddy have connections to the Immigrant Fleet, too?" MOMO asked.

"No. I presume Professor Mizrahi was merely being used." Jin answered. "Their objective was to acquire research data on the Zohar. Even the Realian outbursts that sparked the Miltian Conflict were believed to be part of their experiments. But something else happened that they couldn't have predicted."

"U-DO awoke, and door to purgatory opened." Jr. stated.

"And the Gnosis appeared…" Shion said.

"Everyone must have thought it was the end of the world. But that didn't happen." Jin turned to MOMO. "MOMO. The truth of the matter is, your father wasn't a madman at all. In the ensuing chaos, Professor Mizrahi had to make a vital decision in order to prevent the worst-case scenario."

"What decision?" She asked.

"He knew he had to somehow isolate the Zohar, U-DO, and all of Miltia, and seal their power in a place where no one could touch it."

"So, the reason Miltia was swallowed up by the Abyss was because Professor Mizrahi…" Shion said.

"A great many people were sacrificed for his sake. That's probably the reason he brought judgment down upon himself. To put an end to everything…" Jin turned to MOMO again. "Your father tried to save the world you were about to be born into. And then he entrusted his secrets to you, the one he could trust most."

"Daddy… I knew it!" MOMO exclaimed. "I'm so…I'm so happy!"

"Wait a second." Shion said. "So if we just hand over the Zohar to the Immigrant Fleet, they'll…"

"Yes, they will likely repeat the tragedy from fourteen years ago. Please go on without me. I'm going to send this data to Representative Helmer." Jin turned to Canaan, who was still in the seat. "Canaan, please handle the data backup."

"Understood." The orange haired Realian said.

Jin walked back over to the console and continued his work. As we started making our way to the door I noticed one of the console nearby had some data showing on the monitor. Curious, I walked over to look at the data to see what it said (I also noticed that it seemed to have been brought up recently).

_**Project Eden**_

_**Subject Description:**_

_**Gender: Female  
**__**Age: 17  
**__**Height: 5'2  
**__**Weight: 105 lb.  
**__**Blood Type: A-  
**__**Ethnic Type: Caucasian  
**_**_Hair Color: White/blonde  
__Eye Color: Blue_**

_**Purpose: To preserve information about Lost Jerusalem for future analysis. Sealed in 2008 A.D., Lost Jerusalem.**_

As I continued to read over the information, I noticed a part that seemed to have been updated recently.

_**Current Ailment(s): Amnesia**_

_**Current Status: Regaining lost memories.**_

My eyes widened when I read all of the information. I read it over and over again to see if I was reading it right. There was no mistake in what was written on the monitor. But whoever added the last bit of data…how did they know I had amnesia or that I was regaining my memories?

"_W-what's going on…?_" I thought shocked.

"Is there something wrong, Ayame?"

I jumped when I heard the voice and turned around to find Lilith standing behind me, an expression of genuine concern in her eyes.

"I-it's…it's…"

"If you're going to say 'it's nothing,' then forget about it." Lilith stated. "You're as white as a ghost, you're face says it all."

I saw the others near the door noticed that we were near a certain console and came over to us. Jr. was the first to reach us and his face held the same concern that Lilith had shown in her eyes.

"Ayame, what's wrong?" Jr. asked.

"It's noth--"

"If she says it's nothing, she's obviously lying." Lilith said, cutting me off.

Jr. looked at Lilith, giving the older (in appearance) woman a knowing glance before look back at me, the concern look on his face more intense.

"Ayame, could you please tell me what's wrong? Maybe I can help."

I stared at Jr., thinking if I should tell him or not. But when I saw how concerned his face looked I couldn't help but feel somewhat bad of the idea of not telling him at all. I turned slightly and pointed to the console behind me. He seemed to get the idea.

"The console?"

"Yes."

Jr. gave me another glance before going over to the console behind me. I didn't hear anything for some time and I couldn't help but feel a little worried. I soon heard footsteps from behind and felt a hand being placed on my upper arm. Turning in the direction of where the hand was coming from I saw Jr.

"It's okay." He said. "It's just data. There's nothing to worry about."

"You're right." I said. "Thank you."

"No problem. Are you ready to continue?"

"Yeah."

We then left the room and proceeded to an elevator that would take us down to the Zohar Isolation Area. Upon entering through the door at the bottom we found ourselves standing on a bridge and ahead of us another doorway. Just then a man with burgundy hair with a sword stepped out through the doorway in front of us. On the right side of his face was a long scar and I realized that this was the man Canaan had told me Jin fought fourteen years ago.

"You!" Ziggy growled.

The man looked at us with menacing violet eyes.

"I see." He said. "No wonder the air defense system was useless. Right, U.R.T.V.?"

"Don't…don't call me that!" Jr. growled, taking out his guns.

The man laughed coldly.

"That Helmer…he's certainly managed to assemble an impressive ensemble. But your coming here now is pointless. We've already accomplished our objective. The Zohar is now under our control. There's nothing you can do. The outcome is already decided."

"What the hell are you thinking? That thing is way beyond anything you can handle. Do you have any idea what's gonna happen?"

"Of course I do." The man took out his sword in the sheath. "The annoying Gnosis as well as a few pathetic, weed-like humans, who are arguably even more worthless than the Gnosis, are going to disappear. Just like Ariadne."

"You bastard!"

"But weak as your position is, we still can't allow anything to interfere with our plans. Even you, Project Eden." He took his sword out of the sheath. "Time to die!" He yelled in an outburst.

The man launched a fireball from his sword and sent it our way. Before the fireball could hit us, an ice wave from nearby hit the it and the place brightened to the point that we had to cover our eyes. The ice wave destroyed the fireball and approached the man, but he slashed it into pieces. He then looked to somewhere that was above us to our left.

"It's been fourteen years, hasn't it, Uzuki?" He asked.

We looked above us and saw Jin holding his katana.

"Personally, I would have preferred to never see you again." Jin replied.

"Jin!" Shion gasped.

"The blade is for carving one's heart, not for turning against the masses. That's what our master once said, was it not?"

The man laughed out loud.

"This is perfect." He said. "I can't believe you're still a part of this, Uzuki. Once again you insist on standing against me."

"There were still a few things I wanted to look into. These people were nice enough to give me a lift."

The man cracked his neck on each side.

"Absurd…"

"Nothing has changed here. You know, it was careless of you not to erase those records fourteen years ago. Now you can never return to the Federation. Or perhaps, were you a bit too busy to worry about that at the time?"

"I see you still talk too much." raised his sword towards Jin. "Very well. If you really want to know… You'll have to use that sword to make me talk!"

"Naturally. That was my intent."

Jin jumped down to the bridge of the Zohar Isolation Area and landed in front of us.

"Do not expect this to end like it did before, Uzuki!"

Jin and the burgundy haired man started sword fighting, clashing blades and evading each other's attack. Then the man's attack caused Jin to get his katana taken by him. The man tried to strike Jin with his katana, but at the last second Jin grabbed the sides of the sword with his hands and the man tried to strike him. Jin then makes the man strike the katana instead and the dark haired man gave the burgundy haired man a foot sweep, knocking him far away as he reclaimed his katana back. As they prepared their weapons they started clashing and evading again. Then the man jumped on the railing of the bridge, did a flip jump and strikes Jin's katana. It clashed, but Jin fell to the floor with his katana as he tried to push his opponent's sword away from him.

"It's been for too long, Uzuki." The burgundy haired man said. "This feeling…of exhilaration!"

"I told you. I won't allow a monster like you to inherit my grandfather's technique." Jin stated.

Jin kicked the man in the stomach and pushed him back.

"Bold words from such a fool!"

Jin and the man charged at each other with their weapons and then a bright flash brightened the area briefly. Jin was then thrown back, but he landed safely on his feet, his opponent also doing the same and landed safely on his feet after the impact. They both got up.

"I shouldn't have spent my time running a used bookstore." Jin suddenly said. "I regret that now."

"I'll make sure you die a painful death someday, Uzuki!"

We all joined in to help Jin fight the man (who turned out to be called Margulis). I took out the Shiruba and transformed both of them into sword as Lilith took out her daggers, twirling them around before finally grasping them in her hands.

"I know I'm gonna enjoy this." She said.

"You enjoy anything that has to do with fighting." I stated.

"That's because I'm me."

I smiled.

"You want to strike first?"

Lilith smirked.

"Certainly. It would be my pleasure."

Lilith rushed swiftly behind Margulis and managed to strike him from behind, jumping back in time to avoid the attack from his sword. Jin was the next to attack and the two men clashed blades with each other, MOMO and Jr. managing to get their fair share of the action as well while Ziggy helped Jin. Soon I saw Margulis turn around and started to charge at me. I managed to bring the sword in my right hand up to block his strike just in time, struggling to hold it back.

"It would appear you side with these fools, Project Eden." Margulis stated.

"It seems like everyone's telling me that a lot lately." I said. "But yes, I do since their my friends."

Margulis scoffed.

"Friends? How pitiful."

"Really? I beg to differ. They helped me out countless times." I said as I transformed the Shiruba in my left hand back to a gun. "And I choose to return the favor!"

I quickly brought up the gun in my left hand and managed to shoot Margulis in his right arm. I took that time to strike him at his side and deliver a successful hit. The burgundy haired man jumped away while holding his right arm from when I shot him with my gun, glaring at me with pure malice. Jin took this time to run up behind Margulis and deliver a wounding blow, thus ending the fight.

"You're as dangerous as ever. But no matter how hard you struggle, there's nothing you can do now." Margulis said. "I hope you savor your abject despair. You're powerless."

Suddenly the A.M.W.S. Scutum appeared in the room and Margulis hopped onto the shoulder of the mech.

"Uzuki. If you want to settle this, you'll have to survive first!"

The Scutum with Margulis fled the area. Shion looked at the Zohar room door and we all proceeded through the door. We ran inside the room and saw what looked like a Zohar Emulator inside. I noticed how big it was as we walked up the ramp to the top. I also noticed two capsule as well.

"Looks like we made it in time." Jr. said after turning to us. He pointed his thumb over his right shoulder at the golden object. "Look, that's the Zohar. The original."

"_So this is the original Zohar…_" I thought.

Shion walked closer.

"This place… I saw it in my dream." Shion said. "The cage Feb's sisters were trapped in."

"What cage?"

"Shion." KOS-MOS said. "I am detecting faint life signs in the capsules in front of us."

"Life signs?" Shion asked, turning to the android.

"That is correct. Their design is quite old. However, they are definitely Realians."

As we got even closer to the two capsules I saw the names 'Cecilia' on the left capsule and 'Catherine' on the right one. The mist faded to reveal what looked like twin sisters but they were horribly disfigured. Shion stumbled backwards and kneeled to the ground.

"It…it can't be." Shion said. "That's…Cecily and Cathe…"

"Wait…" Jr. said terrified while stepping back slowly. "You…you're saying that those are Realians?"

"_This is…this is horrible…! Who could do such a inhumane thing…?_"I couldn't help but feel terrified and sick to the stomach upon seeing the horrifying sight.

"Jr.?" Jr. turned to face MOMO. "What's wrong?"

"MOMO, stay back!"

MOMO started approaching slowly and she must had seen the sisters who were breathing in a tube connection, since I saw her terrified as she covered her face with her hands.

"Shion… What is that?" MOMO asked terrified. "It's horrible."

"It's horrible. I can't stand this!" Shion said in a horrified and disgusted outburst. She started shaking her head. "I'm…I'm sick of all this! I just… I can't take it anymore! I just can't! Uh!!!"

"Is there any way we can help them?" chaos asked.

"Unfortunately, because they are fused with the system, it appears they have already lost their individual functionality and consciousness." KOS-MOS said. "In their current state, separating them from the system would result in complete shutdown."

"Bastards!" Jr. said. "Why'd they do this?"

"Because using them in their natural state proved difficult." We looked up upon hearing the older voice. Suddenly a old man surrounded in a yellow beam of light appeared above us. "It was necessary to isolate their consciousness from the outside world."

"Who the hell are you?"

The old man didn't respond.

"Why would the leader of the Immigrant Fleet be here?" Jin asked.

"There's really no need for me to answer questions from the likes of you. But very well. The Zohar. That object originally belonged to us—to Ormus. Yes, since the dawn of recorded history, we have been its guardians. In turn, we use it in any way we see fit. That is the way of things."

"Ormus… So that's the real name of your organization."

"That's right. Ormus has enlisted in the shadows since ancient times. Indeed, since before the crucifixion of the messiah. Human beings…no…all life throughout the universe must be guided forward by Ormus and the Zohar. And they shall be led unto a higher plane of existence. That is the mission that god has entrusted to us."

"Damn you!" Jr. growled.

Shion started to stand up.

"You… You did this to them for that?" She asked, the anger evident in her voice.

"What, is there a problem?" The old man asked. "They are tools, created specifically for that purpose."

"Shut up! I refuse…" She shook her head. "I refuse to accept this!"

"You refuse? Then, we'll just have to make you accept it." The old man started to activate the Zohar. "This power is granted to us by god!"

The Zohar started to resonate, glowing brightly. Shion gasped.

"That's…"

"It's… It's the voice of U-DO! Stop the system! Now!" Jr. cried. "If you don't, it's gonna wake up again!"

KOS-MOS walked over to where Shion stood and pushed her back and held her hand in front of the dark haired woman.

"Shion, please stand back. I will destroy the system and cut the bypass to the Zohar." As she said this a Minigun appeared on KOS-MOS' hands.

When Shion saw this she ran in front of the android and blocked her way.

"KOS-MOS, wait." Shion cried. "They're still—"

"Shion. If you interfere, I will be required to take drastic measures."

"No, KOS-MOS!"

It was quiet and I could hear Shion crying.

"KOS-MOS…" She moved out of the way. She sounded upset from crying. "Fire!"

KOS-MOS open fired at the two sisters Cecily and Cathe in their cage-like capsules, destroying everything near them in the process and killing both Realians. Shion looked extremely upset after seeing this happen and I couldn't help but feel sorry for her as KOS-MOS continued to fire her Minigun at the sisters and the objects near the Zohar.

"Foolish. Truly foolish." The old man said. "It doesn't matter what you do now. You cannot stop this power."

The large machine that was behind the Zohar started moving and concealed the golden object into its torso.

"_What is that thing?!_" I thought.

"It can't be!" Jin cried. "Proto Omega! It's been completed?"

"Oh? You know of it. I'm impressed. It seems I may have underestimated you slightly. These past fourteen years have been of great help to us. As has the data from the Conflict." The old man explained. "As a result, we now have a symbol of overwhelming power. With this, we will wipe the Gnosis from the cosmos and place the entire star cluster under the jurisdiction of Ormus."

Shion still looked like she was upset as she gazed down at the ground.

"Of course, we hardly need anything this overwhelming now, thanks to the U.M.N. and the Federation."

Shion slowly lifted her head up.

"They've managed to reduce the people to a simple mass of spineless weaklings."

Jr. got in front of Shion and pulled out one of his gun.

"Shion, out of the way!" He yelled.

Jr. and KOS-MOS open fired at Proto Omega, but the shield kept absorbing the shots.

"Wasting your time!" The old man said.

Proto Omega unleashed a flash attack pushing us all back. I landed on the ground and felt pain.

"_At least I wasn't thrown into a wall this time…_" I thought.

"Now… let the festival begin!"

Proto Omega descended into the chasm. The area suddenly started shaking and crumbling. Jr. was the first to get up and he went over to MOMO.

"This is bad." Jr. stated, helping MOMO up. "We gotta go!"

We immediately evacuated Labyrinthos and boarded the Elsa along with our E.S.s. The Elsa boosted off at full speed as Old Miltia started blowing apart. I looked out the windshield and saw that Proto Omega was creating an eruption from the now devastated planet and managed blowing up the entire Immigrant Fleet and Federation's battleships, A.M.W.S.s and other small battleships in the process. Suddenly the wings erupted from Old Miltia and it caused the planet to crumble and be destroyed in the process.

As we successfully boosted away from the devastation, I couldn't help but feel sad knowing that all those people were killed, regardless if the were friend or foe.

"No… Miltia…" Shion sounded sorrowfully upset.

"They destroyed the entire planet? How the hell could they do that?" Jr. asked in disbelief.

We decided to head back to the Kukai Foundation. After all that's happened I couldn't help but feel sad.

"_Why must this happen?_" I asked in thought.

* * *

ATE: Were finally done with reading this chap. I bet you all noticed the info on Ayame that has been revealed to us all. Another thing you may have noticed what the fight against Margulis and how Ayame fought. My friend was over at my house today and I brought it up that Ayame has never fought with the Shiruba in the style that consisted of her using on as a gun in her left hand while the other one was in sword form in the right, so we decided that it might be interesting to see how it would turn out (and we got our results). How Ayame felt when she saw the state that Cecily and Cathe were in was how I first felt when I saw that scene in the game (it truely was horrible).

Well, anyways. Please Review! :)


	14. Chapter 14

ATE: I've managed to update again. I realize that it's shorter than last time, but for a good reason. This time I didn't have help from my friend when writing this today, and I think it will be necessary for the next chap. Anyways enjoy.

Warning: There is a reference to the first Xenosaga game in this chap. You'll know what it is right away (hint: it's near the end).

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own my OC Ayame, while my friend own her OC Lilith.

* * *

Chapter 14

Back on Fifth Jerusalem a man wearing a uniform stood in a dark room, in front of him was a communication monitor with Pellegri on it.

"I see… So, Proto Omega has awakened." The man said. "With this, our plan can now proceed to the next level. The commander will surely be pleased as well."

While the man was talking with Pellegri, he was suddenly shot and fell to the floor dead.

"What's going on?" Pellegri asked. "Are you all right? Hey!" As the woman watched the communication monitor in front of her, she saw a man wearing a black and red overcoat with white pants walk in front of the monitor on the other end, a gun in his hand. She gasped when she saw who it was. "You!"

"I've taken control of the Parliament. A reinforcement fleet is already on its way. I won't allow you to continue." The man turned out to be Dmitri Yuriev.

"You!" She said. "But you died…fourteen years ago…"

Yuriev laughed softly, a smirk on his face as he turned around.

"Give your commander a message for me. I'm not going to die." He turned his upper half to face the communication monitor, aiming his gun at the console. "Not now, not ever."

Yuriev shot the communication monitor with Pellegri, causing it to shut off permanently. The blonde haired man left the room, leaving the dead man on the floor to bleed.

-----------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in the Omega System, the Patriarch was viewing a bunch of monitors showing scenes from before.

"Reinforcements? Damn Federation… Do they really want to destroy us that badly?" The old man asked. "Hmph. It matters not. I'll show them the errors of their ways." He turned to a communication hologram of Margulis, who was kneeling on the ground. "Margulis. Take the fleet and eliminate them!" Margulis started laughing gently, confusing the Patriarch who stared at the burgundy haired man. "What is it? Margulis, did you not hear me?"

"I think perhaps it would be better if you went yourself, Holiness." Margulis said.

"What? Have you lost your senses, Margulis?" The Patriarch asked, getting angry. "I am your master! Now do as I say!"

"You appear to misunderstand the situation. We Inquisitors serve but one master." He stated. "Surely, Your Holiness is aware of that." The burgundy haired man's hologram appeared behind the old man. "Everything has translated exactly as we have planned. All that's left now, is for you to die a martyr, Holiness."

The Patriarch glared at Margulis from behind.

"Damn you! You can't mean Heinlein?!"

"I bid you farewell, Holiness…"

With that Margulis hologram disappeared, leaving the Patriarch behind.

---------------------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

After arriving back at the Durandal (at the Foundation) we got off the Elsa and I noticed that Shion and Jin weren't with us.

"_Shion's probably still upset from what happened._" I thought.

As we started making our way to the bridge I couldn't help but think back to the time before we left Second Miltia when Lilith chose to join us. She never really told us why she had wanted to come.

"_Strictly confidential, my ass._" I thought.

I turned to my sister who was next to Ayame.

"Lilith." I called.

The black haired silver highlighted woman turned to me.

"What is it, Red?" She asked.

"You know exactly what."

"I seem to have forgotten. Why don't you remind me?" She smirked.

I sighed. Did she have to be this way all the time?

"I've back off long enough since we left Second Miltia."

"Oh, that!" She exclaimed, sounding like she had forgotten but I didn't buy it. "What do you need an explanation of?"

"What was your real reason for coming with us this whole time?" I asked. "This time I expect a real answer."

"Hmph. You want a real answer?" Her deep green eyes looked very serious now. "Let's just say, I was ordered to. How's that sound?"

I narrowed my eyes at Lilith, not exactly satisfied with her response.

"Vague. Completely vague."

"Deal with it. That's all you'll be getting from me at the moment."

We were about to board the train when Shion finally joined up. Now that we were all here, we could get to the Bridge.

_(Ayame's POV)_

Some time later after arriving in the Bridge of the Durandal, Jr. stood next to Shelley who sat at the console, Lilith standing nearby with me next to her on the ramp. Shion and KOS-MOS stood near the bottom of the ramp, MOMO and Ziggy standing on one side near the elevator platform and chaos standing on the other side. Suddenly I heard a ringing sound out.

"Little Master, a private transmission has arrived for you on a general channel." A 100-Series Realian said from where she sat.

"What's up?" Jr. asked.

"It's compressed in an encoded format." She looked up at the red haired boy. "Shall I open it?"

"Yeah, put it on."

The 100-Series Realian activated the communication monitor in front of Jr. and my eyes widened when I saw the person on the monitor. It was Dmitri Yuriev…but he…looked younger! I looked to Lilith's face but I noticed that she didn't look surprised at all.

"You!"

"It's been a long time, my dear son." He said.

"Jr. and Lilith's…father?" MOMO asked.

"Dr. Dmitri Yuriev?" Shion asked.

"I heard about what happened fourteen years ago. Sounds like Albedo made contact with U-DO and managed to cause a space-time anomaly alteration. That is most regrettable."

"Bastard!" Jr. growled. "You knew if we confronted U-DO, it might've destroyed Miltia! How could you do that?!"

"Oh, please. I don't recall raising you U.R.T.V.s to be idiots." Yuriev stated. "If we could save the star cluster at the cost of a single planet, I'd say that's a small price to pay."

"Acceptable losses… I hate that term." Shion said.

"Now that we are faced with U-DO's potential reawakening, we must eradicate any and all uncertainties. We've determined that there will be an attempt to re-contact U-DO. You must move immediately to eliminate the target, Rubedo."

"Re-contact… You mean Albedo?" Jr. asked.

"Yes. He was infected, and he has fallen."

Jr. started shaking his head slowly.

"Mmph. I'll atone for my past mistakes. But I will not do it by killing Albedo… Instead, I'll make him stop this insanity!"

"As you wish. I look forward to your results, Rubedo." Yuriev said. His gaze turned to where Lilith and I stood. "It's good to see you again, Argenta. It would appear that you've been doing your job exceptionally well. I expect you to continue your assignment."

Lilith nodded before the communication monitor disappeared. What did Yuriev mean by assignment?

"Shelley, where did that transmission come from?" Jr. asked.

"I am sorry. The route was scrambled." The purple haired woman said. "It's impossible to trace."

"Mmph. That old bastard…" Jr. turned around and crossed his arms.

----------------------------------------

Back on Fifth Jerusalem, Yuriev suddenly held his head in pain. His blonde hair started changing to black and he transformed back to Gaignun.

"Jr. Don't trust… …my…words." He said.

----------------------------------------

Jr. turned his gaze to where Lilith and I stood and seemed to narrow his blue eyes at the black haired silver highlighted woman next to me.

"I want an explanation." He said. "_Now_!"

Lilith smirked and crossed her arms.

"Hmph. I knew that I would have to explain eventually, but I didn't think it would be this soon." She said. "Yes, the reason why I to came with you was because of the task I was assigned to by our father."

"What assignment?" Jr. walked closer to where we stood.

"My assignment was, and still is, to protect Project Eden from anything and anyone that would attempt to harm her."

My eyes widened as I turned to look at Lilith's face, seeing if she was joking. She wasn't and I felt somewhat…betrayed…

"Protect Project Eden? Do you mean Ayame?" Jr. asked.

"Who else do I mean? Has there been anyone else that's been referred to by Project Eden lately?"

"How were you assigned?" Shion asked.

"If you must know, it happen fourteen years ago."

--------------------------

_Dmitri Yuriev stood in a room with computers, their optical screens glowing in the dark room. He stood in front of a computer with his back facing the door. Just then the door behind him opened, but he didn't turn around. A girl at the age of 12 with short black hair with silver highlights and deep green eyes, wearing the standard female U.R.T.V. uniform entered through the door with a expressionless look on her face._

"_You wanted to see me, Dr. Yuriev?" She asked._

"_Indeed, no. 670 Argenta." Yuriev answered, turning to face the female U.R.T.V. "I have a special assignment for you."_

"_May I inquire as to what you wish me to do?"_

"_You will see soon. Follow me."_

_Yuriev led Argenta out of the room and down the hallway to a door that had 'Authorized Personnel Only' printed on it in big red letters. They entered through the door and came into a room that had a lone capsule with '2008 A.D.' written on it. They walked over to it and stood in front of it._

"_This room has, by all standard accounts, been previously unnoticed." Argenta stated. "What is this capsule, sir?"_

"_Your assignment, Argenta. Take a good look."_

_Argenta closely studied the capsule, noticing the girl that slept inside._

"_Who is this girl, if I may ask?"_

"_This girl is from the time of Lost Jerusalem." The older man explained. "Not even I know the name of this person or the full extent of the project, but we've chose to refer to her as 'Project Eden.' And she is now your charge."_

"_My assignment, as you have explained sir, is that this 'Project Eden' is now my main point of existence and her well-being is of my utmost concern, correct?"_

"_That is correct. If you should fail, you are to terminate yourself. You are to protect her before and after she awakens from her sleep, if it should even happen."_

"_That is understood. If I should betray my primary purpose, it would result in immediate termination. I will follow your order explicitly."_

"_Good. If she were to ever awaken--"_

"_An inquiry, sir. If she is to awaken, how will I be able to complete my mission if the project is constantly on the verge of death by either time, man, or Gnosis?"_

"_Easy." Yuriev took out two daggers and threw them to the ground, where they landed near the young girl's feet. "You will use these. Especially if any of the others become suspicious or onerous. So far, no one knows anything about this except you, me, and Helmer."_

"_But what about no. 667 Albedo?" Argenta asked. "Doesn't he pose as a threat?"_

"_So you know about his involvement as well?"_

"_You can learn many things by simply asking questions, sir."_

"_I see. To answer your question, Albedo doesn't pose a threat to us or Project Eden. I had caught him here today, chastised him, and let him go with a warning that finding him in here again would result in severe consequences." He said. "Do you understand the task I have given you?"_

_Argenta nodded._

"_Yes." _

--------------------------

"So that's how it happened." Jr. said after hearing Lilith's story.

"Yeah." Lilith answered. "But now that you know about it, I'll have to dispose of you."

"What?!" Jr.'s eyes widened.

"Don't do it, Lilith!" I cried, grabbing hold of her right arm tightly.

Lilith looked down at me with a blank look before she suddenly started laughing, causing me to become confused.

"Aha! The look on your face is priceless! No matter how many times I see it, it never gets old!" She continued laughing. "Relax! I was just kidding!"

I sighed while shaking me head.

After that we proceeded back to the Elsa and entered the Bridge to talk to Captain Matthews.

"Yo! Heading out?" Matthews asked.

"Yes." Shion answered.

"Where you wanna go?"

"The Omega System."

"Okay!" The Captain turned to Tony. "Tony! Hit it!"

The Elsa boosted off to the Omega System. After getting there, we went into the hangar and launched out in our E.S.s. Inside the Elias I followed the others as we made our way to the docking area, where we disembarked to reach the console to activate the first and second gate.

After that we embarked on the E.S.s and moved on to the area with the elevator so we got out of the E.S.s and activated the E.S. elevator to go down. We had to quickly release the lock bars to let the elevator with our E.S.s go all the way down and managed to do so. We arrived at the area with the elevator that descended to the room that had our E.S.s were now in and got back inside them. But before we could reach the gate an enemy called the Inversion blocked our way and we had to fight it.

As we fought it Lilith kept attacking it as I maneuvered around to avoid getting hit (I have really improved my skills since the time we had been in the Ormus Stronghold). Continuing to dodge the enemy's attack I suddenly thought of the time when we had fought Richard and Hermann and remembered that I had used Angel Mode that time. If I could remember how I felt at that time maybe I could use my ability again.

"_Just hope I'm about this and it works…!_" I thought.

I maneuvered the Elias away from everyone else and the Inversion, closing my eyes as I tried to recall how I felt last time. I remembered feeling very protective of everyone and I tried to focus on that emotion. I could suddenly feel power spread throughout my body and to my fingertips and could feel my hair floating up in the air.

"What are you doing, Ayame?" I heard Lilith asked.

I continued to feel the power and opened my eyes again to see that I was one with the Elias again.

"_It worked!_" I thought surprised and happy.

I didn't hesitate and flew and the Inversion, letting Lilith take care of the weapons as I took advantage of the speed and power that I was focusing through the Elias. It didn't take us long to finish our opponent off, leading us to victory.

I closed my eyes and focused on calming down before opening them again to find myself back in the cockpit. At least I know of to use Angel Mode now. A communication monitor appeared and I could see Jr.'s face on it.

"Ayame, you did it again!" He said

"Do you mean how I piloted the Elias?" I asked.

"Yeah! It was glowing and had wings and everything!"

"I guess I figured out how to use Angel Mode after all."

"Angel Mode?"

"Yes." I nodded. "That's what I'm choosing to call it."

"We at least we know what it's called. It's very helpful, too."

"Thank you."

The communication monitor disappeared and we all decided to move on. In the next area we had to solve the room's puzzle by creating a bridge to the next area by destroying the right colored boxes. Once we made the bridge we disembarked from our E.S.s and crossed the bridge, entering the next room through the door and took a platform to the next platform. When we reached the next platform, we found a console there. Jr. was the first to walk up to it and started pressing buttons on it before slamming his fist on it. It disappeared and suddenly something started coming out of the floor, something big that looked like a Cathedral.

"_I think Mary told me something about Jr. using unknown consoles that he doesn't know the functions of and saying that bad things always seem to happen when he does something to them._" I thought suddenly.

We then had to fight the enemy (that turned out to be called Cathedral) and after some time we defeated it. Afterwards, the console appeared again and we activated it, the platform we stood on beginning to move into the next area after we did so.

* * *

ATE: The story behind Lilith has been revealed! Originally, Lilith's backstory was going to be a bonus chap at the end of the whole story (making it the last chap), but since it would have been too short I decided to put it in now. Also Ayame has finally figured our how to use Angel Mode. I'm going to state right now that there going to be three chaps left before the story's over (I had predetermind chaps. before starting depending on the game script). Thanks to everyone whose been reading this story so far. Please Review! :)

Next chap hint: A certain insane white haired person appears.


	15. Chapter 15

ATE: I've uploaded again. I would like to thank The Dualist Of Dawn and for their reviews. Hope you two enjoy this chap!

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga, iPod, or the song mentioned in this chap. I own my OC Ayame, while my friend owns her OC Lilith. I also have the album mentioned in this chap on my actually iPod.

* * *

Chapter 15

Once we arrived in the next area we found that Proto Omega was there, along with the old man standing in front of the machine.

"You've done well to make it this far." He said as he shook his head. "I suppose it's best not to underestimate the resilience of insects."

"I've heard enough of your crap!" Jr. said.

"Do you really know…what it is you're doing?" Shion asked.

"I agree."

"_That voice!_" I thought.

Suddenly a violet colored light appeared in front of us and I could see something forming in it. The object was completely formed as the light faded and I felt my face pale when I saw who it was standing in front of us.

"_Albedo!_"

"Don't you think it's about time you quit playing this ridiculous game?" He asked. "This power is mine. You have no right to it."

"Albedo!" Jr. cried.

Albedo turned his head around to face us.

"Yo, Rubedo. You seem happy to see me."

Jr. looked puzzled, but then his expression change, his brows furrowing as he gritted his teeth.

"Don't be stupid. How could I be happy?"

"Ah, if it isn't Yuriev's ghost. I'm afraid you're a bit late." The old man said as Albedo turned around to face him. "The preparations are already complete. There's no longer a point to your existence."

Albedo started shaking his head slowly left to right, and I couldn't help but be reminded of when he did the same thing the last time I saw him.

"What an annoying old fool." Albedo looked over his right shoulder at Jr., pointing a finger at the old man. "How about it, Rubedo? Want me to give you a hand squashing this guy?"

"U.R.T.V. A failed product of a twisted age. A lower life form such as you could never understand our ideals."

Albedo lifted his right hand and launched a beam at the old man, but a barrier shield around the aged man absorbed it. The white haired man suddenly jumped up into the air, gliding as he launched more beams at the old man and Proto Omega but the barrier continued to absorb his attacks. The old man raised his right arm up and a beam fired out of Proto Omega which hit Albedo, surrounding him in a purple field orb and sent him flying into a wall before falling to the floor. Jr. rushed over to his side.

"That's rich…" Albedo said as he started getting up. "You people are unbelievable. You're going to destroy me?" Jr. made it over to Albedo, but after the white haired man stood up, I eyes widened when I saw that his feet started to disappear. It was making it's way up his body. "Complete destruction doesn't sound all that bad."

"Albedo!" Jr. cried.

"But, you see even reducing me to particles won't make me disappear from the cosmos." He looked to Jr. "Hey, Rubedo. Don't forget to breathe deep and inhale the particles that composed me."

Albedo started laughing out loud before he vanished completely. I suddenly felt sad for some reason, but I didn't understand why. After all the things he's done, why was I feeling sad for him?

"Damn you!" Jr. growled. He sounded angry. "You bastard! You're gonna pay!"

"What's wrong? Wasn't he your bitter enemy?" The old man asked. He started laughing out loud.

"The only one allowed to take Albedo out…is me!"

I took out the Shiruba as everyone else took out their weapons to fight the old man. I used Analysis on his and learned that he was called the Patriarch. As Lilith, Jin, Ziggy, and chaos attacked the aged man up close, Jr., MOMO, Shion, KOS-MOS, and I attacked from far off. The Patriarch fell to the ground defeated.

"I cannot possibly lose to the likes of you!" The Patriarch suddenly said.

Just then the Patriarch was suddenly healed and we had to fight him again. As we fought I suddenly got an idea that might work. I got some distance from the fight, closing my eyes as I starting to focused, remembering the protective emotion again. I opened my eyes when I felt myself go into Angel Mode and noticed that the crystal on my necklace was glowing. I looked back up as I transformed my guns into swords, used my wings to fly over to the Patriarch and slashing him with my attack. The old man looked shocked when he saw me.

"What?! You!" He said.

It was after he said that that slashed at his arm. I flew some distance away, landed on the floor and transformed out of Angel Mode. The Patriarch was now kneeling on the ground wounded.

"Completely incomprehensible." He stood up straight. "Why do you stand before me like this? What good is any of this going to do you?"

Jr. was slouched, breathing heavily as he still held his guns.

"How the hell should we know?" He asked angrily. "You're the one who's doing all this. You're the enemy!"

"I don't have time for this nonsense. Once you see this, your babbling mouths will be silenced for good. A U.M.N. Phase Transfer Cannon—a weapon that can strike any target from anywhere in space."

Jr. stood up straight and narrowed his eyes at the Patriarch.

"Why you!"

"Don't worry. I'll send you to meet him soon. When you reach the afterlife, be sure and tell Helmer, too." The Patriarch commanded Proto Omega to fire a charged beam at us, but suddenly the charging stopped and the machine didn't fire. Upon realizing this, the old man turned around to look at the machine. "What's going on? What's wrong? Work! Come on, work!"

"The Zohar does not exist for your sake."

Suddenly a light appeared and three A.M.W.S.s appeared with three hooded men standing on each on. The hooded man in red stood in the middle while the black and blue hooded men stood to his side, all of the gazing down at us.

"Who's there?"

"We'd appreciate it if the supporting actors could just stick to their roles." The blue hooded man said.

"You're…" Shion gasped.

"Te…Testament!" The Patriarch finished.

"Exit the stage. Your act is over."

The Blue Testament raised his hands and unleashed his thunder at Proto Omega. The impact created a bright destruction field near the Patriarch.

"No! I am all power—"

The destruction field vaporized the old man and he is gone, not a single thing to hint that he had once been standing in front of us. Proto Omega then disappeared, leaving behind the original Zohar. The Blue Testament looked over at the third and silent mysterious black hooded man.

"What is it? See someone you know?" He asked.

The Black Testament looked down, his gaze turned to Ziggy.

"It's you." The cyborg growled angrily. "You!" Enraged, Ziggy's missile launcher appeared in his hand. "Voyager!"

Ziggy fired missiles at the silent hooded man, but all of them were absorbed by the Black Testament's barrier shield. Suddenly, the missiles appeared behind Ziggy and they hit the cyborg, causing him to drop his weapon and damaging his body in the process.

"Ziggy!" MOMO cried, running over to the cyborg.

"We don't have time to play around." The Red Testament said. "Begin."

Suddenly the three Testaments held out their hands and a light appeared a few feet in front of us as body started to form. As it continued to form my eyes widened when I realized who it was. It couldn't be…!

"A-Albedo…" I whispered, shocked at what was happening. He…didn't he disappear…?

I was surprised when I suddenly felt somewhat relieved, but it was short-lived when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end upon seeing red waves (that I remembered were U-DO) appear. I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"Stop it!" Jr. yelled. "This is not what you were born to do!"

U-DO waves approached Albedo and went into his body. The white haired man started laughing.

"Au contraire…" Albedo said, lifting his head up. "This is the very moment I've been waiting for!" The three A.M.W.S.s with the three Testaments suddenly disappeared from the area. "Come, Rubedo. Come to my world! Let's have some fun!"

The waves engulfed Albedo's body and the feeling I felt grew worse.

"U-DO…"

KOS-MOS approached slowly until she stood in front of us. Her body started to resonating, causing us to cover our eyes from the bright light. When the light faded KOS-MOS was wearing some kind of armor and activated a barrier to prevent U-DO from reaching us.

"KOS-MOS?" Shion asked.

"Shion. Under the current conditions, I can hold this for approximately three minutes." The android said. "Please escape immediately."

"KOS-MOS! But how…"

"The Elsa is currently heading towards our present coordinates. If you destroy the exterior wall, you should be able to rendezvous with it."

"Destroy the wall?"

Still damaged from the previous attack, Ziggy started to get up and started making his way over to the wall.

"Leave it to me." He said.

"Ziggy! You shouldn't be moving in your condition!" MOMO cried.

"Don't worry. They can always repair my body." Ziggy balled his left hand into a fist. "Stand back!"

In an outburst, Ziggy used his left fist to break and punched the wall, and shatter it. Upon doing this Ziggy's entire robotic left arm was destroyed, sparking as he fell to the floor.

"Ziggy!"

We ran over to Ziggy and MOMO helped him up. Then we saw the Elsa appear.

"Hurry, Chief! Please, get onboard!" We heard Allen say through the speakers. "We're almost out of time!"

We quickly got onboard the Elsa and the ship boosted off really fast and away as it proceeded to Durandal. Looking through the windshield, we saw that the Omega System suddenly started to transform into what looked like a red and purple ominous mass in space.

"Behold, Rubedo! At long last, my time has come! The time to join the eternal chain!" The mass continued to grow. "The time to quench my thirst at the source!"

---------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

Later we all arrived in the Durandal's Bridge. MOMO, Ziggy, Ayame and Lilith weren't with us at the time.

"Give me an update." I asked as I made my way over to where Mary stood nearby.

"No change in the waves from the space time anomaly." A 100-Series Realian said. "Further expansion appears to be temporarily halted."

"Well, it sounds like we owe one to KOS-MOS."

"We don't have much time to relax, Little Master." Mary told me. "The phenomena alteration may have stopped expanding for now, but it's just a matter of time before it starts up again."

"It'll swallow up the whole region eventually, won't it? Isn't there any way to stop it?" Shion asked.

"Hmm. It's likely the only way to resolve this situation is to go in there and destroy the source directly." Jin explained. "But the risk involved is enormous."

"How are the Elsa and the assault craft?" I asked.

"They have sustained a great deal of damage, but they are still operational. We can launch at any time." The Realian said.

"Okay, got it." I nodded. "Shelley, I need you to take over here."

"Acknowledged." The purple haired woman answered.

I walked over to the elevator platform and rode it down alone, deciding to go to the Park Area to think. When I entered the Park Area I noticed that Ayame wasn't there at all, not even Lilith who was always with her since it was her job to protect Ayame. I felt somewhat disappointed but I dismissed it as I walked over to the fountain and sat on the edge, facing the window. As I continued to gaze out the window I heard footsteps coming closer to where I sat.

"There you are."

I turned my head to look over my shoulder and saw Shion standing on the other side of the fountain.

"You sure it's all right for the commander to be hanging around here?" She asked.

"It's okay." I said. "Mary and Shelley can handle things just fine."

"You're thinking about him?" Shion sat near the fountain with me.

"He keeps calling me. It seems he wants to settle the score."

"But he's your brother. Are you sure you can fight him?"

"I dunno." I brought my right leg up and wrapped my arms around it as I hung my head. "But I have to go. I can't…I can't just let things stay the way they are now. I'm the only one who can stop him, so…"

"Jr.…"

I got up from where I sat and walked by Shion

"How's Ziggy doing? Can he move yet?" I asked.

"I don't have any details, but I know MOMO hasn't left his side since she started repairing him." Shion answered.

"I see…I think I'll go check in on them. We'll be heading out as soon as everything's ready. Tell everyone to be on standby."

"Okay."

With that I left the Park Area and headed for the maintenance room. As I made my way there, I thought back to what I told Shion awhile ago. I know I lied, but I didn't want the others to come. This was my fight and I didn't want them to be involved this time. I soon arrived at the maintenance room but I stood outside the door, listening to the conversation that was going on in the room.

"Those are custom Ziggurat-series compatible parts there." I heard Juli Mizrahi's voice say. "They treat the repair manual like an ancient manuscript. It was difficult to get a hold of."

"Thank you very much, Dr. Mizrahi." That was Ziggy's voice.

"You can call me Juli. I'm tired of the whole 'Doctor' thing. By the way, Jan Sauer, I have something I'd like to talk to you about."

"Yes?"

"I understand you've been refusing lifespan extension on your organic components. It's already been a century since you were revived. The average lifespan of a living brain that hasn't undergone extension is 130 years. Would you consider living just a little while longer? For MOMO's sake?" There was a pause, and I couldn't help but slightly smirk when I realized Juli was asking. "Besides, there are a few things I'd like to learn from you. From the way you live…"

It was quiet again.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" Ziggy asked.

"Of course. I'll be waiting to hear the good news."

It was then that I decided to enter the room as the communication monitor disappeared. I noticed that MOMO had been looking over at the door when I entered.

"Sorry." I apologized, hanging my head. "Guess I was eavesdropping again."

"I don't mind. I have nothing to hide." Ziggy said. "MOMO, I'm sorry, could you go get the parts for me?"

"Okay."

MOMO then left the room, leaving me and Ziggy alone. I walked over to the console that was to the left of the maintenance chair Ziggy sat in and placed my left hand on it as I stared down at it.

"You know, that was the first time I've ever seen you angry." I looked over at the old man. "I guess even you still have some feelings like that." I turned my head back to look ahead of me and closed my eyes, only to open them again with a small smile. "To be honest. I'm kinda relieved. You really are human, after all." I turned my body to face the cyborg. "And after all your lectures, you couldn't keep your head in front of your enemy, either!"

"Hmm. I guess it applies to both of us."

"Yeah…" I faced forward again. "When it comes to him, I just can't control myself." I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them. "I lose sight of everything…"

I closed eyes again.

"Jr. I won't pretend to understand what you're thinking, and I have no intention of rebuking you." He said. "Just do what you feel is right."

I opened my eyes again, staring at Ziggy in surprise.

"Old man…"

He turned to me.

"Just go and show him a thing or two."

I couldn't help but smile a little.

"Yeah. I'll do that."

----------------------------------------------

I was making my way towards the E.S. hangar, ready to settle things with Albedo.

"You're going, aren't you?"

I stopped walking and turned my head in the direction the voice had come from to find MOMO and Ayame standing in the corridor to my left.

"MOMO… Ayame…" I turned to look forward and hung my head as I heard both of them approaching. "I figured I'd sneak off while Gaignun wasn't around, but I never expected to be caught by you. Guess it's no surprise from a 100-Series. I'm assuming Ayame tagged along with you."

It was quiet as I closed my eyes.

"Are you going by yourself?" MOMO asked.

"Hmmm…"

"Why? You always try to take on everything by yourself. Can we…Can we go with you, too?"

"Sorry… He's calling me. He says it has to be me." I looked up after opening my eyes. "I'm his brother, after all. I wasn't always a good big brother, but now…I've at least got to settle this."

There was a brief pause.

"Jr.…"

"I'm sorry. Do me a favor and think up an excuse to tell the others."

I walked up to the door to the E.S. hangar and opened it.

"You're coming back, right?!"

"Hmmm."

"Please promise me. Promise you'll come back. If you don't, I…I…"

I smiled at MOMO and was about to enter the hangar when I saw Ayame walk over me, a sad expression on her face as she gazed at me with equally expression emotions in her blue eyes.

"It doesn't have to be this way…but I understand that there's no other choice." Ayame reached up behind her neck and took off the necklace she always wore that now rested in her right hand as she held it our to me. "Please take this with you."

My eyes widened when I heard what she said. She wanted me to take it with me?

"Ayame, that necklace is important to you. Your parents gave it to you." I said. "I can't take it!"

"I'm aware that it's precious to me, but I still want you to take it with you." She said. "Think of it as a good luck charm."

Ayame knelt down on her knees and gently took my right arm as she rolled the sleeve up. When my wrist was exposed she took her necklace and wrapped it around my right wrist so that it ended up resting like a bracelet, the crystal slightly hanging from the chain. When she was done Ayame rolled the sleeve down and stood back up, looking at me again.

"Please be sure to bring it back." She gave me a small smile. "We'll be waiting for you to return."

I nodded before I walked through the door and entered the E.S. hangar. I entered the E.S. Asher. I closed my eyes only to open them again as the Asher was ready to go.

----------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

MOMO and I arrived at the Bridge.

"The third hangar's hatch has been forced open." A 100-Series Realian stated. "The E.S. Asher is moving onto the catapult."

"What?" Mary cried. Suddenly a monitor appeared and showed the Asher moving towards the catapult. "Little Master! What's he doing?"

"Little Master, please come back. Little Master!" There was no response from Jr. "It's no good. Communications are off."

"Um, Jr. said he wanted to go test his craft." MOMO said, using the excuse she had just made up. I placed a hand on her shoulder. "So…he should be right back."

"MOMO. Ayame. Jr.'s going, isn't he?" Shion asked. "To that place… To put an end to this."

MOMO went over to Mary and I followed her.

"Um…well… He promised. He promised he'd come back. So I…"

Mary comforted MOMO by placing her right hand on her left shoulder.

"I know. It's all right." Mary said. The older woman embraced MOMO, and to my surprise pulled me in as well. "You really are a good girl, MOMO. You too, Ayame. This is the Little Master's fault, making everyone worry like this. When he gets back, we're gonna give him a spanking he won't forget."

While I was in the hug, I couldn't help but look out the window as I saw the Asher take off, making his way to the Space Time Anomaly. I was soon able to pull away from Mary and I looked at her.

"I'll be in my room, Mary." I told her.

"All right then." She said.

I took the elevator down and made my way to my room in the Residential Area after taking the train. When I entered my room I was surprised to find Lilith leaning against the wall near my bed.

"Lilith. I didn't expect you to be here."

She looked up at me with her deep green eyes.

"That was what I was intending to do."

I couldn't help but smile a little before walking over to by bed and sat down. I remembered the ice blue iPod that Lilith gave me and took it out of my pocket and placed the earphones in my ears. Turning it on I noticed that it was now fully charge and as if knowing how to use it, I scrolled up to music, click, went to albums, click, and scrolled all the way down when one of the names caught my eye. It said 'Xenosaga Episode II - MOVIE SCENE SOUNDTRACK [Disc 1]' and I clicked on it.

I scrolled down and noticed that I recognized some of the names of the songs (some of them being the names of people I knew, which surprised me). I continued scrolling down when I saw a song called 'Jr. #2' and clicked on it. After clicking it I could hear a beautiful yet sad sound through the earphones as the song played. As I listen I didn't notice that I was crying until I felt a stray fall from my eyes. As I continued to cry I suddenly felt arms wrap around me and looked up to find Lilith holding me, a concern look on her face as she watched me.

"He'll be back." She said quietly.

I nodded slowly.

"You're right." I whispered.

* * *

ATE: Now that I've finished this chap, I plan on starting chap 16 right away. Please Review! :)


	16. Chapter 16

ATE: I finished this chap at about 11:10 PM last night. After this chap will be the last chap of this story. I hope you all enjoy reading this!

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own Ayame, while my friend owns Lilith.

* * *

Chapter 16

_(Jr.'s POV)_

Once I arrived I landed the Asher I got out and started moving forward.

"I'm glad you came, Rubedo."

I watched as a light shone and could see Albedo appear in front of me, taking on the appearance of the child he had once been fourteen years ago.

"What's the matter?" He asked. "It's unusual to see you alone like this. Aren't your little friends with you?"

"I can handle settling things with you by myself." I said.

Albedo laughed.

"There's no use pretending. You're scared… Scared you'll abandon them, just like you did before. You might even end up letting them all die." He laughed darkly. "That's just like you, you coward."

Albedo disappeared only to reappears farther away from where I stood.

"Come." He said while walking away. "Come to me." He stopped and turned to look at me. "That is, assuming your heart can hold up that long."

Albedo laughed and disappeared, in his place was a portal. I knew immediately that going through that portal was the only way to reach him, so I entered.

I opened my eyes to find myself standing in the grove back at the Institute fourteen years ago. In front of me I saw the young Albedo digging holes in the ground under the tree, Kirshwassers standing on both sides of it.

"I'm making graves for Rubedo and Nigredo. It's just for pretend, though." He said, sounding like he was talking to the Kirshwassers nearby. "I'm practicing so that when they die, I won't cry. If I link with U-DO again, I wonder if he'll kill me… I hope he will. He is our leader, after all."

My eyes widened.

"I… I wouldn't do anything like that!" I yelled to him.

Albedo laughed darkly as he stood up.

"Of course you would!" He turned his head to face me. "That's how you're built." Suddenly, Albedo's eyes started to glow brighter. "Because we're the anti-existence of U-DO."

Slightly frightened, I took a step back as I stared at him.

"Do you know what the link is like?" He asked as Kirshwassers started to embracing him. "It's as sweet and seductive as a deal with the devil."

Albedo laughed again and the flashback ended. I found another portal in front of me and made my way over to it. I walked through it and found myself standing in a doorway as I witnessed Albedo punching Sakura.

"I don't like you." Albedo yelled enraged as Sakura fell to the ground. "You're bothering Rubedo, the way you try and flirt with him. Say something, you mannequin!"

My eyes widened as Albedo ran over Sakura.

"What are you doing? Stop it!" I yelled

Albedo got on his knees and started punching Sakura in the face.

"I hate you! I hate you!"

"I said, stop it!"

Albedo stopped punching Sakura and turned his head to look at me, his violet eyes glaring at me in anger.

"What? Why are you stopping me? You are so annoying. It's not like you have any real power. The only thing you can do is butter people up." Albedo grabbed Sakura by her hair and lifted her up. "I hated this girl! She was always flirting with you." There was a brief pause as I stared at him. "I'm glad she's dead. I am. Now, there's nobody around trying to seduce you."

"That's enough!" I yelled furiously. "Let go of Sakura!"

I furiously punched Albedo to the desk, causing him to knock the lamp down in the process. I heard Sakura fall to the ground and turned around, my eyes widening when I saw MOMO in her place.

"MOMO?"

"No, that's right, there's still that imitation." I looked back over to Albedo as he now sat on top of the desk. "You're such a pitiful man, Rubedo. To think, you have to satisfy yourself with this toy!"

I growled furiously.

"Albedo, you son of a—"

"Is this rag doll important to you?" He asked. "It's too late. She's already been damaged. By my own hand!"

"Stop! Don't say any more!"

"I enjoyed every minute of it, too." He licked his finger on his right hand. "You should give it a try yourself, Rubedo. I'm sure if it were you, she'd be happy to—"

"I told you to shut up!" I shouted furiously as I ran over to Albedo and attempted to punch in the face, but he suddenly disappeared and I ended up hitting the wall.

"Let's hurry up and finish this." I heard the younger version of Albedo' voice say. "When I kill you, I'll have everything. It's so disgusting… I'm sick of you clinging to me like this!"

I heard him laughing insanely echo all around me and the area disappeared. I found another portal and started walking over to it when I stopped a few feet away from it.

"_What will I encounter next?_" I thought.

With that I walked through the portal.

I found myself standing inside the room that was at the Yuriev Institute with the capsule Ayame had been sleeping in. I recognized it from the Encephalon Dive. In front of me was the familiar capsule with Ayame sleeping peacefully inside, unaware of what was taking place in the world around her. Standing in front of the capsule was Albedo, his back turned to me as he was stroking the glass fondly.

"You look so peaceful when you sleep, mon iris. It looks so unreal but then you make it a reality, like 'Sleeping Beauty' manifesting herself in the real world." Albedo said. "There are so many things I want to tell you when you wake up. Like my feelings for you."

"_Feelings?!_" I thought, my eyes wide.

"Originally, I had never intended to share her with you, Rubedo." I watched as Albedo turned to look at me. "I had wanted to keep her all to myself. That's why I never told you or Nigredo."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Did you know? I'm in love with her, obsessed with her. Everything about her makes my desire for her more stronger than the last."

I gritted my teeth and tightened my hands into fists as I stared at Albedo.

"Are you getting angry? Of course, it makes perfect sense if you're angry! After all, I know you're in love of her too. Jealousy can be such a powerful emotion As I told you before, Rubedo: you're such a pitiful man." He continued. "Too bad she doesn't understand what love is."

"I've been trying to teach her that!" I said.

"Teach her what? Love?" He laughed. "Don't bother trying, Rubedo. Everything you've done has been in vain. She only understands _friendship_!" He said the last word like it was venom.

"You're wrong! She will learn!"

"I highly doubt that. I'll let you in on a little something. Do you want to know what she tastes like?"

"_Tastes like?!_" I thought shocked.

"She tastes unbelievably sweet, like strawberries. It's like heaven on earth. After all, she is an angel."

"You kissed her?!" I yelled.

"That's right, Rubedo. And just like I did when I was beating up that girl, I enjoyed it, every minute of it."

"Shut up!"

"When you're dead, I'll finally have mon iris all to myself again. And I can do whatever I want with her and have my way--"

"Shut up, you sick bastard!" I yelled.

I ran at Albedo to punch him in the face, but he disappeared before I could do anything to him. Just like before! I was seething in anger at that bastard. How dare he talk about Ayame like she was some sort of object…or toy!

I looked over to the capsule that had a sleeping Ayame inside of it. When I saw her peaceful appearance I couldn't help but let my anger suddenly melt away. As I stared at her, I couldn't help but finger the crystal on her necklace that was wrapped around my right wrist. I gazed down at the necklace and couldn't help but feel warmth in my heart.

"_Ayame… You've been with me this whole time. Not physically, but spiritually._" I thought. "_I'll come back. I promise._"

The area disappeared again and I found myself standing in front of the next portal. I walked into the portal and was surprised to find myself in a hallway with large mirrors on the walls, the floor having a dark red carpet stretching to the end.

"What is this?" I asked.

I slowly started to walk down the hallway. I stopped when I noticed something to my right and turned my head only for my eyes to catch my reflection in the mirror staring back at me before turning my head to look forward as I walked away.

"Yo, Rubedo!" I stopped "Are you ready to fight now?"

I quickly spun around to where the familiar voice came from only to have my eyes widen and step backwards when I saw who it was.

"What?"

Staring back at my was my own reflection, moving on its own as its face at a dark look. I continued moving back when I suddenly heard footsteps.

"You should just smash him." I turned around to find my reflection again moving on its own. "It shouldn't be a problem for you."

"Stop it!" I said, backing up.

I saw another image of myself in a different mirror and watched as it grabbed it's neck with its hands as if to strangle itself.

"How long are you gonna keep holding back?" It asked. "Kill him already! Come on!"

"Stop it!" My eyes widened as I stared at my reflection in horror.

"He was always getting in the way." Another image of myself said, pointing at me. "You don't need a loser like him around."

"Stop it!" I backed up again and felt my hand touch a cold smooth surface.

"Hurry up and kill me!" My eyes widened when I heard Albedo's voice.

"Stop!" In my outburst I shot all the mirrors with my guns, shattering them all to pieces. I felt my body start to burn up suddenly, dropping my guns as I fell to my knees while struggling to control my powers. "Dammit! Not now! Red Dragon mode… The anti-U-DO shift! No… No!"

Suddenly everything disappeared and was replaced with a white void, or was I somehow blinded and was seeing this instead of the darkness I've heard that blind people saw after loosing their sight? I felt two pairs of hands being placed on my back from behind.

"Rubedo…" I heard a familiar voice say gently. "Don't be afraid. We…we believe in you, Rubedo."

I suddenly got a hold of myself as I clutched a hand to my chest, breathing heavily as I felt the burning disappear. I spotted my guns on the ground and picked them up after I caught my breath.

"I am…me." I told myself as I slowly stood up. "I won't…give in to it."

The area disappeared again and I found another portal in front of me. Something told me that this was the last one…that Albedo was be on the other side waiting for me. I walked through it and I found that I arrived in a huge room. As I slowly walked forward I looked around cautiously, seeing Kirshwassers inside liquefied containers.

"Glad you could make it, Rubedo." I looked up and saw Albedo sitting in what appeared to be a throne. His chest was bare but his arms were still covered with his white gloves. I noticed that his lower half was missing and in their place were wires. "Take a look at me. I've finally acquired what I was missing before. I may have lost my body, but I feel so much better."

Just then I felt the crystal on Ayame's necklace moved so that it was showing from where I was hiding it under my right sleeve. Albedo must've seen it since I saw him grin.

"What do you know? Is that mon iris' necklace I see? This is perfect!" He laughed. "I wonder why she gave it to you?"

I ignored what he said.

"Stop the space-time anomaly, Albedo." I said. "There's still time if you do it."

"I'm to repent, am I?" He hung his head before looking back up again. "I think not. As my duty as an immortal, I've prepared a brand new world view for mankind. When I temporarily linked with U-DO, I climbed the ladder of evolution and saw the leaning tower of culture that humans have struggled to construct. It's not even a tower, really. It's a scaffold of rotting wood, built with meager knowledge and pitiful tools! But a nice guy would tell them the truth, would he not? Hello! You've got it all wrong!" He yelled the last part in a literal way before turning his head and placing his hand to his right hear as if waiting to hear something.

"What are you gonna do with this region of space?"

"Who knows?" He stood up straight, placing his hands on his hips. "Perhaps I'll cause a shift and shove this whole dimension into a high-order domain. Don't be afraid. We low-dimension creatures will move en masse to a higher plane! It'll be glorious! The true eternal chain! The fulfillment of that which we lacked! The evolution of mankind and the evolution of the very world itself that watches over us!" Albedo activated his power, a purple aura forming around his body. "Happy days are here! They'll name a holiday after me! That is, assuming they even have the concept of holidays on the other side."

Albedo launched his power at me and I could feel myself start to enter Red Dragon mode.

"Stop!" I growled in uncontrollable pain while holding myself. "If you don't stop, I'll have to stop you!"

"Come, my positron. You are an anti-U-DO weapon. My heart tingles with anticipation. A weapon need not feel shame for desiring combat. For all we know, humans themselves may be weapons created by the world."

I tried to get a hold of myself and managed to do so.

"You're right. I am a weapon. Every cell in my body is aching for a fight. They long to collide with their anti-existence. I've probably wanted to fight from the moment we were born."

"We think alike, Rubedo. I feel exactly the same way. Right now, I'd like to rip you to shreds!" Albedo said, his voice sounding evil.

In an outburst I took my guns out and twirled them before aiming them at my white-haired brother.

"Bring it on!" I yelled. "I'm gonna rip you right outta here and drag you back to the Durandal!"

----------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

As I sat on my bed in my room I couldn't help but have a sudden question. I looked over to where Lilith was leaning against the wall as I got the courage to ask her.

"Lilith." She turned to look at me from where she stood, waiting for me to tell her what I wanted to say. "You know how you've been assigned to protect me, right?"

She nodded, and I took that as a sign to continue.

"Are you…a bodyguard?" I asked.

"I guess you could say that." She answered. "Actually, that may be the closest thing to describe my duty. So I guess you could call me your bodyguard."

"Thank you for answering my question." I smiled.

"Whatever."

Suddenly the room disappeared and I found myself floating in a dark void with what looked like stars littering the place, looking similar to outer space. I noticed that two stars that were close together start to glow, one red while the other was violet. The two stars continued to get brighter until they both dimmed back to normal, the violet star more dimmer than normal before it suddenly disappeared.

The place disappeared only to be replaced with my room. Standing in front of me was a concern looking Lilith.

"Are you okay, Ayame?" She asked.

"I'm fine." I answered. "I…saw something."

"What did you see?"

"A violet star dying…"

----------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

The fighting was over, I knew that for sure. The place started to crumble as I rushed back over to Albedo.

"Not bad… Rubedo." He said.

I stopped when I was only a few feet away from the steps leading up to the throne.

"Albedo? You…"

Albedo chuckled lightly.

"Well, Rubedo? Admit it." He lifted his head. "You enjoyed that didn't you?"

"Yeah. It was fun. My blood danced in my veins. We really are nothing more than instruments of war."

Suddenly the contraption that was covering Albedo's legs disappeared, causing him to kneels on the floor at the bottom of the steps. He propped his left arm on his left knee.

"No, that's not it. We're not foolish because we're tools. It's because we're men. Oblivion, huh?" Albedo held up his left arm and to my surprise it became see-through. "You might say this is a release. At least, I won't have to fear losing anyone anymore."

I rushed over to him, sitting on the ground in front of him, my eyes wide.

"Albedo?"

"What's with that face? You look like you just lost your best friend, Rubedo."

"You bastard!" I was upset as I felt tears well up in my eyes. "You knew all along--"

"What are you talking about? I…I can't stand you or Nigredo."

Albedo used his right hand to remove to necklace that was around his neck and he held it out to me.

"For mon iris. Give it to her." He said.

"No! You can give it to her yourself!" I said.

I hung my head, hearing the sound of the necklace in Albedo held in his right hand as it hit the ground.

"Rubedo… Beware of Nigredo's shadow. Think why it is he doesn't react to U-DO."

I lifted my head when I saw a bright and looked up in time to see winged Kirshwassers floating down.

"Kirshwassers?" The Kirshwassers took a hold of Albedo and lifted him up into the air. "No! Don't go!" I stood up quickly, about to cry. "Albedo! Don't go! Don't leave me alone!"

"Ah, look, Rubedo! I'm free!"

The Kirshwassers carried Albedo into the light and I watched as they disappeared. Then, the light started to fade away.

"Albedo? Albedo!" I shouted in a loud outburst, extremely upset.

-----------------------------------------

I sat on the ground in the dark void, crying uncontrollably that Albedo was gone. I couldn't hear the beating in my right chest anymore, only adding to the fact that he was truly gone. Not to far from me was the necklace that he had dropped earlier.

"What's wrong, Rubedo?" I heard the voice of Sakura ask.

"I…I can't hear it. My right chest… I can't hear my other heartbeat anymore."

"Is that why you're crying?"

"Leave me alone. I just tore away half of my body with my own hands. The me that's here…i…isn't me anymore."

"Were you really that weak, Rubedo? That's not the Rubedo I know."

"Who cares?" I asked, the tears falling from my eyes as I continued to cried. "No…None of that matters anymore."

"Get up, Rubedo. There are people waiting for you. Don't let them down now." Sakura said. "Remember…remember the promise that you made me?"

I opened my eyes as I lifted my head slightly

"Please promise me. Promise you'll come back!"

That voice! It was…

"MOMO!"

"She's not the only one you promised. There was another you made a promise to." Sakura said.

"Who?" I asked, somewhat confused.

"Me."

My eyes widened when I heard her voice. I suddenly felt arms wrap around my sitting form from behind and hold me.

"I'm supposed to be the forgetful one, not you." She said. "You didn't forget the promise you made me, did you?"

"No…I didn't! I would never forget the promise I made you, Ayame." I then felt the arms disappear "Sakura, you're right!" I stood up from where I had been sitting on the ground, grabbing Albedo's necklace along the way. "I promised I'd protect your sister… …didn't I?" I started wiping the tears from my eyes as I turned to face Sakura. "I couldn't protect my younger brother. But there are still people I care about who I can protect."

"That's right, Rubedo." Sakura said, coming over to me with her arms spread out. "That's the Rubedo that…that I love."

Despite having wiping the tears from my eyes, some stray tears still rolled down my cheeks.

"Sakura… Thanks."

I closed my eyes as I approached Sakura and hugged her.

"You did well, Jr." I heard chaos say. "Come on, let's go back to the others."

That was the last thing I heard before everything went dark.

* * *

ATE: This is the end of chap 16. It was kinda interest typing this one up. Took awhile but I got it finished. The next chap will be the last one! Please Review! :)


	17. Chapter 17

ATE: We've finally come to the end of this story. This is the last chap which I've spent a lot of time on. I put a lot of effort in this one. Thanks to The Duelist Of Dawn and for their reviews. They've really helped in the long run. I hope you all enjoy this chap.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga, or the songs mentioned in this chap. I only own Ayame, while my friend owns Lilith.

* * *

_Chapter 17_

_(Jr.'s POV)_

I stood on the elevator platform as me and chaos rode it up to the Bridge, my head hanging as I felt a little sad at the moment. When I knew the elevator had reached the top I couldn't help but rub the back of my head as I slowly walked off the platform.

"Sorry to…to worry all of you." I said, looking up at everyone.

"Jr.! Thank goodness!" MOMO ran over to where I was standing and jumping onto me. We hugged each other after we turned around twice. "You're okay! I'm… I'm so happy!"

"Yeah. I promised, after all. But, it was really this guy who saved me." I looked over to where chaos was as he walked onto the elevator. "Guess I owe him another one."

chaos waved goodbye before the elevator went down.

"Jr." I turned to Shion when I heard her voice. "Did you make up with him?"

"I dunno about that." I answered. "We were both pretty stubborn. He said he hated me, right to the bitter end."

"Oh, I see. So it was just a big family squabble, huh?"

"Mary, we have a Zohar confirmed at point 3-E. Referencing the coordinates with the simulator." I heard a 100-Series Realian say. "There's a 93% probability it's the original that was on Miltia."

We saw the monitor showing the Zohar floating in space.

"Nice work!" Mary commented as she ran up to the main console/ "Ready to wire the pod for launch! This is our last job! Give it everything you've got!"

An alarm suddenly started blaring out.

"Warning signal. Abnormality in the surrounding space detected."

"What? Give me a full report!"

"Large-scale spatial distortion detected." The 100-Series Realian explained. "A large mass is gating out. Mass estimate increasing… Immeasurable… It's materializing into normal space."

"A Gnosis? You gotta be kidding me! There can't be a Gnosis that big!"

"Shockwave approaching!"

The shockwave appeared and the ship started shaking violently. When the shaking stopped a huge ominous object that looked like a ship appeared in space and the Zohar fell into the warp hole of that thing. It was even bigger than the Durandal! After the shaking stopped, the huge ship disappeared from the area. I looked around and saw that everyone was okay when I noticed that Ayame wasn't here.

"Mary. Do you know where Ayame is?" I asked.

Mary turned to look at me.

"Ayame said that she would be in her room, Little Master." She answered.

"Thanks."

With that I rode the elevator platform down and took the train to the Residential Area, where Ayame's room would be.

--------------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

I was sitting on my bed with Lilith in my room leaning against the wall. A while ago the shaking had stopped and I wondered what could have caused it. Just then I heard the sound of the doorbell go off and was about to go answer the door when Lilith stopped me.

"Ayame, let me answer it." She told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"What if you were to answer the door and the person waiting behind it was intending to kill you?" She gave me a serious look.

I realized what she meant and stayed seated on my bed. Lilith went over to the door and opened it, only to quickly draw one of her daggers out a point it at the person's neck.

"Oh, it's just you." She said before putting her dagger away. "You have a visitor, Ayame." Lilith moved aside and I couldn't help the smile from coming on my face when I saw Jr. walk through the doorway. "I'll leave you two alone."

With that the woman left the room and the door closed behind her. I looked at Jr. and couldn't help but feel happy.

"You came back." I said.

"Yeah." He nodded, a smile on his face. "Just like I said I would."

"I was so worried."

"I'm sorry."

Jr. walked over to where I was sitting on the bed and sat down next to me. I watched as he rolled up the sleeve of his right arm and saw my necklace that I let him take with him. He started to carefully undo the chain until he got the necklace off his wrist.

"I brought your necklace back." He said, handing it to me. "It…really helped me."

"Thank you."

I took my necklace from him and was about to unclasped the chain to put it on before he stopped me.

"Here, I'll do it."

I was surprised by his offer but I handed my necklace back to him. He got up from where he was sitting and came around to my other side so that my back was facing him. I couldn't help but get the stomach-flipping sensation when I felt his fingers brush up against the skin of my neck that wasn't covered by my turtleneck as he moved my hair to one side before placing the necklace around my neck and clasping it in place. He moved my hair back in place before going back to sitting next to me on the bed. I watched as Jr. took something out of his and I saw that it was another necklace. The charm was the size of my palm and looked like the peace symbol with the exception that there wasn't the vertical line that went through the middle at all.

"Albedo…he wanted me to give this to you." He told me.

Jr. handed it to me and when I held it in my hand I saw an image of Albedo being lifted up by winged Kirshwassers into a light above. When it ended I looked back to Jr.

"While you were gone I saw something."

"What did you see?"

"I was floating in space when I saw a red star and a violet star shine brightly. Both of them dimmed, but the violet star was dimming more than the red star until it disappeared completely." I explained. "I think the two stars represented you and Albedo, and the violet star disappearing must've meant…" I hung my head. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

"Despite all the terrible things he's done, I can't help but feel sad that he's gone for some reason."

It was quiet between us. I then remembered the day when I had watched Rush Hour 3 with Jr. and that earlier he had asked me that question. Should I ask him?

"Jr." I lifted my head up to look at him. "There's something that I wanted to ask you, but never really got the chance."

"What is it?"

"Back on the Elsa what did you mean when you asked me if I liked you?"

I watched Jr.'s face turned red, his eyes looked at the floor as he rubbed the back of his head and I couldn't help but wonder why.

"Uh, that huh?" He lifted his eyes to look at me. "I was asking if you like liked me…if you…loved me?"

I looked at Jr. confused. That was the second time I had heard that word, 'love'. I didn't understand, but I suddenly felt my stomach flipping again along with a warm feeling in my heart.

"What is…love?" I asked confused.

Jr. looked at me before hanging his head as if he was thinking. He then looked back up at me again.

"What do you feel right now?" He asked.

I was confused at why he was asking me this question but I closed my eyes and place my right hand over my heart, feeling it beating under my hand as I thought.

"I…feel warmth in my heart, and my stomach seems to be doing flips. It's been doing this since we arrived on Second Miltia."

I opened my eyes and moved my hand away from my heart to look at Jr. again. He then held my right hand in his left hand and I couldn't help but feel that sensation I had described again when I felt the warmth from his hand.

"Do you feel that way when I do this?" He gave me a curious look.

I nodded my head.

I watched as a smile appeared on his lips and his blue eyes seemed to sparkle.

"You're feeling it. You feel love."

I was taken by surprise when his arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer to him as my chin ended up on top of his right shoulder. I felt those sensations again but this time they were stronger. From what he told me I realized what these feelings were and why I felt them.

"_I'm…in love with Jr.…_" I thought.

"Do you love me?" He asked.

"Yes. I…love you." I answered.

I smiled, closing my eyes as I felt tears well up and fall from them. I placed my right hand on the back of Jr.'s head and wrapping my other arm around him as I held him closer to me. I liked the emotion I felt now that I finally realize what it was.

--------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

I finally arrived at the Bridge while managing to sneak the squirming object I was hiding under the coat I wore. As quietly as I could I made my way over to the corner of one of the small white structure that was beside the elevator platform and took out the object I had been hiding in my pocked. It was a small white puppy with purple eyes that I had found earlier and I placed him on the ground.

"Just wait here until I call for you." I whispered to him.

I quietly moved away, looking back again to make sure that he stay and found that he was now sitting in the spot I left him. I made my way over to the console next to the bottom of the ramp and knelt down. I peeked around the corner and saw that Mary's back was facing my direction.

"Mary!" I saw Mary turn around and knew that she saw me as I waved for her. "Come here a second." Mary quickly came over to where I was kneeling on the ground and bent down as well. "Listen, think it'd be okay if I kept a dog on the bridge?" I asked, whispering.

"A dog?" She asked.

"Hey, come here, boy!" I called to the puppy while waving for him as Mary stood up. I saw him come out from where I had told him to stay and ran over to us. Mary started giggling as I picked the small dog up by his body. "His name's Alby. He's an albino, so, Alby."

Alby squeaked excitedly.

"Hmmm. He's got a kinda tough-looking face." Mary said.

I grinned.

"Yeah. I hope he doesn't misbehave like someone we know."

"_I wonder what Ayame will think if I showed her Alby?_" I thought.

---------------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

I was in the Park Area sitting on the bench I usually sat on when I always came here. Not too far away Lilith was leaning against the wall doing her job as my bodyguard. As I enjoyed the scenery I could suddenly hear footsteps running over to where we were.

"Ayame!"

I turned around and saw Jr. running over to us, a smile on his face.

"What is it?" I asked. I couldn't help but smile as well.

"I wanna show you something! C'mon!"

Jr. suddenly grabbed my hand and started pulling me over to the fountain and I couldn't help but be reminded of the time when he did the same thing when we heading to the clothes store on Second Miltia. When we finally reached the fountain he stopped and let go of my hand as he knelt down.

"Here, boy!"

Suddenly I saw a small puppy with white fur and violet eyes come out from behind the corner of the fountain and ran over to us excitedly. Jr. picked the small puppy up when it reached us and turned to face me with the animal.

"I named him Alby, cause he's an albino!" Jr. said. "Mary said it'd be okay to keep him!"

I placed my hand on Alby and started to stroke his soft white fur as he wagged his tail. I couldn't my smile from growing bigger as he somehow managed to lick my hand.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think he's so cute." I answered, looking up at Jr.

Alby started to bark and squirm in Jr.'s hands.

"What is it, Alby? You wanna be put down?"

Jr. placed Alby on the floor and the small white dog rushed up the steps as we followed him. When we reached the top we found Alby standing in front of Lilith, wagging his tail excitedly while Lilith stared at the dog with a blank look on her face as her eyes narrowed somewhat.

"Red, you better keep this fur ball away from me!" She said.

I couldn't help but laugh as Lilith now started to glare at the small dog.

---------------------------------------

On Second Miltia, MOMO and Ziggy (who had his newly repaired robotic left arm) entered the Space Port from the boarding gate. The Realian looked up and saw Juli Mizrahi and quickly dashed over to the older woman.

"Welcome back, MOMO." Juli greeted.

"It's good to be back!" MOMO replied.

Ziggy approached Juli Mizrahi and MOMO. The dark-haired woman looked up at the cyborg.

"I'm planning on living with MOMO for a while. I'd like to ask you to protect her again, should the need arise. What are your plans now?"

"Through the kindness of the representative trustee, I've been assigned to the Kukai Foundation. I am to be stationed on the Durandal, and if MOMO requests, I will be loaned out to her as a matter of priority." Ziggy explained. "For that purpose, I will also be undergoing life extension."

"Really?"

"Which representative trustee made the request?" MOMO asked.

There was a pause as MOMO waited for his answer.

"The little one, of course."

Her eyes widened.

"You mean little Jr., right?"

-------------------------------------

Inside the dock area of the Dämmerung Shion and Jin were talking before her older brother would leave on the Elsa.

"So… You're really going." She said.

"I don't believe this chain of events is truly over." The older man said. "And I'm concerned about that Ormus organization the Patriarch mentioned."

"Of course, your bookstore idea didn't last six months. I hope you won't be changing jobs again quite so soon."

There was a brief pause as Jin shrugged.

"I'll do the best I can. Although… I don't know if time will wait another six months." Jin laughed.

"Hey people, it's time to get moving." Captain Matthews voice said over the intercom. "Come on up to the deck."

Jin started making his way up to the Elsa in order to board.

"Jin!" Shion called. She stepped up closer to her older brother's distance. "Be careful, okay?"

Jin nodded before boarding the Elsa. The ship then took off as Shion waved goodbye to them while it lifted off. Inside the Elsa, chaos smiled. Allen and KOS-MOS appeared and joined Shion, the Vector employee waved his raised arms as the ship took off. In the Elsa, Tony stuck up his index and middle fingers on his right hand as Hammer waved his raised arms as well. Matthews' seat came down and kicked the navigator in the side before they left.

"Shion!"

Shion turned around and say Miyuki.

"Hey Miyuki…ahh!"

Miyuki ran towards Shion, running Allen to the floor in the process.

"Welcome back, Shion!" She said. "It sounds like a lot happened!"

"You can say that again!" Allen said tiredly, placing his left hand on Miyuki's right shoulder as he stood up. "It's too much for a quiet engineer. I wanna take a nice long vacation."

"Ah, Allen, your vacation'll have to wait. You've got mountains of reports to fill out!"

"What? Are you serious?"

Shion smiled a bit as she looked at KOS-MOS.

"Well, KOS-MOS, shall we get going?" She asked. "It's time to go home."

--------------------------------

In a dark area, there were four A.M.W.S. with a light from above to the people standing on them as they talked.

"I see." Wilhelm said. "So this is the Y-Data. But there's a great deal missing."

"But both he and the U-TIC Organization have completely poured through the Realian's main database." The Blue Testament said, a light shining down on his A.M.W.S. in response.

"He only went as far as the subconscious." The Red Testament stated.

"Below even that…in the lowest level of the unconscious domain… Are you saying the answer lies in the Unus Mundus?" The white-haired man asked.

"Most likely."

"Really? Well, I suppose we'll leave it at that for now. When the path to Lost Jerusalem is opened, KOS-MOS will awaken."

"So, what will you do with him?" The Blue Testament asked.

"I said it was a shame, didn't I?" A mysterious voice asked.

"There you have it. Good news, huh? Partner."

A white A.M.W.S. with their new member, the White Testament, was revealed when the light shone on them as it descended.

"Welcome…" Wilhelm began. "…weaver of the eternal circle of Zarathustra."

_The End. To be continued in the next story…_

--------------------------------------------------

(AN: I know this is the end of the second game, but I wanted to add another story to the end of this one, since it takes place a few days after the events of the main story. Enjoy!)

_**Bonus Story**_

_(Ayame's POV)_

I woke up after a night's worth of sleep. I sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, but noticed that Lilith wasn't in the room.

"_That's odd._" I thought. "_Usually Lilith's here whenever I've woken up_."

I got out of bed and decided to take a shower, taking my clothes with me as I went inside and closed the door behind me. I stripped off the Pjs I've been wearing and got in the shower after turning it on. I admit it felt nice and I managed to finish up quickly. I turned off the water, dried myself off and got my usual attire on, drying my hair before leaving the bathroom.

When I was back in my room I went over to a drawer and pulled out the necklace that Albedo had Jr. give me and tied it on the belt I wore. It was then I noticed a note on my bedside table, reading it after I picked it up. The note was written by Lilith and she wrote that I was to stay in my room until someone came for me. I found this very unusual… Jr. had been acting weird for a few days, followed by Mary and Shelley, and now Lilith! I couldn't help but feel confused. What was going on?

Not knowing what else to do, I sat down on my bed and took of the ice blue iPod, placing the earphones in my ears. I turned it one and clicked on a song called 'A Song Of Storm And Fire'.

_Ireta ibasa imastia  
Imetai atorai ametai abe esa ideta  
Asorai adorai asorai abasa imita tora _

_Kata elistara imentali ahora ikata eri hora imiya vida  
Kata elistara imentali ahora ikata eri hora imiya _

_Ireta ibasa imastia  
Ima iya miabenta  
Asora ni tosari dostia imiya iyasi iyaa _

_Ireta ibasa imastia  
Imeiya miabenta  
Asora ni kasani astia ibiya iastii_

_Kata elistara imentali ahora  
Kata elistara ipasa metipara_

_Iya_

As I listened to this song I was reminded of Lilith as I imagine the times I've seen her in battle and how she would swiftly run up to her opponent fluidly and gracefully as she slashed at them with her daggers, her movements appearing like she was dancing instead of fighting. I think this song suited Lilith perfectly.

I then exited the song and scrolled down until I found a song called 'Please Call My Name (Ending Theme of A Missing Year)' and clicked on it.

_In my long forgotten cloistered sleep,  
You and I were resting close in peace  
Was it just the dreaming of my heart?  
Now I'm crying, don't know why._

_Where do all the tears come from? (to my eyes)  
Could no one ever dry up this spring?  
If you find me crying in the dark,  
Please call my name from the heart._

_Sing with me a tiny autumn song,  
With the melodies of the days gone by  
Dress my body all in flowers white,  
So no mortal eye can see._

_Where have all my memories gone? (and lost)  
Should I roam again up yonder hill?  
I can never rest my soul until  
You call my name, you call my name from the heart._

_(la la la…)_

_In my long forgotten cloistered sleep,  
Someone kissed me whispering words of love  
Is it just a longing of my heart?  
Such a moment of such peace._

_Where do all the tears come from? (to my eyes)  
With no memories why should I cry?  
I can never rest my soul until you call my name,  
You call my name, you call my name  
__Call my soul from the heart._

_la (la la la…) la la la…_

As I listened to this song I couldn't help feel myself cry a little bit. This song reminded me of something, but I couldn't think of what it reminded me of. When this song ended I scrolled down again and found the song called 'Jr.' and clicked on it.

_Cam ya aliye cam ya seila ye  
Cam ya nali ye questa vita  
La si ta mina  
Esqueda ill toggio_

_Cam ya aliye cam yacosta ya  
Sama nadi ye questa ditta  
La siin mita  
El queda in no che_

_Es que selavi in lemitamor  
A la sodaye in miennela  
La sita mia  
Esqueda ill toggio_

_Es que sela vi in lemitamor  
A la sodaye in miennela  
La sita mia  
Esqueda ill toggio_

_Es que selavi in lemitamor  
A la sodaye in miennela  
La sita mia  
Esqueda ill toggio_

_Es que sela vi in lemitamor  
A la sodaye in miennela  
La sita mia  
Esqueda ill toggio _

Every single time I listen to this song it always makes me think of Jr. (hence the name, I guess). It really does suit him. But sometimes I've wonder who it was that made this song and named it after people I knew? I don't believe whoever made this song knew about everyone 4,000 years ago, but then how did they manage to make a song that suited them?

I heard the doorbell ring and went over to the door to open it. When I did so I found Lilith standing outside.

"Hi, Lilith." I said.

"Yo." She replied. "C'mon."

"Huh? To where?" I was confused.

"You'll see."

I knew that was as much as I was going to get out of Lilith and decided to follow her. She suddenly stopped and I wondered why when she turned to face me.

"I forgot to do something."

"Do what?" I watched as Lilith pulled out a black bandana from her pocket and I couldn't help but eye it cautiously. "Who put you up to this?"

"Take a guess."

I knew who she was talking about as I still continued to eye the bandana cautiously.

"I was told that if you refused to be blindfolded, I was to resort to drastic measures to insure that you don't know where I'm taking you."

I sighed, seeing no way out of this again.

"_Jr.…_" I thought, not able to hide the smile that graced my lips. "_Is this payback for the time I blindfolded you back on Second Miltia?_"

"Go ahead, Lilith." I said.

Lilith walked behind me and covered my eyes with the black bandana, making sure to tie it so it wouldn't come off easily. I felt her hand grab mine and she started leading me to wherever we were going. I never thought I would have to be blindfolded again, though. I don't know how far we walked (and the world seemed bigger since I couldn't see it) but Lilith suddenly let go of my hand.

"Okay, you can sit down." I listened to Lilith's voice and found that I was sitting on what felt like a seat. "Good. Now just wait there."

"Wait, where are you…" I heard Lilith's footsteps disappear from my hearing. "…going?"

"_Could this day get any weirder?_" I thought.

Now that I thought about it, Lilith had been the only person I've seen today so far. And the fact that I was blindfolded at the moment didn't exactly help me in any way, so even if I heard someone's footsteps I wouldn't really be able to tell who they were. Speaking about footsteps, I heard some coming in my direction as they got closer and heard them stop in front of me.

"Is that you, Lilith?" I asked.

I didn't hear the person in front of me respond, but I felt a hand grab mine and helped me up from the seat I was sitting on until I stood on my feet. They started leading me somewhere and I was confused about everything that's been going on today.

"_This day has officially gotten weirder…_"

The person continued to lead me and at one point I felt us step on a incline surface that I felt move beneath our feet as it went upwards before reaching the top. I continued to be lead until I heard the sound of water running somewhere as I moved past it and up a couple of steps. I soon felt the person pull my hand gently downwards, causing me to come down as well. I then found myself sitting in another seat again as the person let go of my hand.

I closed my eyes behind the blindfold only to feel hand on the back of my head start to untie the black bandana around my eyes and remove it. I opened my eyes only to close them from the sudden brightness since my eyes had gotten used to the darkness the black bandana had offered. I felt the hand grab mine again.

"Happy birthday, Ayame." I heard a familiar voice whisper in my right ear, feeling the warm breath caused me to shiver slightly.

I cracked my eyes opened and from there slowly opened them as my eyes got used to the light. When they were open I turned my head to the right and saw Jr. sitting closely next to me, a smile on his face. I couldn't help but smile as well.

I suddenly realized the words he had just said. Happy birthday…? Then that would mean…

"Today's my birthday?" I asked, not exactly sure if I heard right.

"Yeah. May 16th, remember?" He asked.

"I must've somehow forgotten. Sorry."

"Hey, it's okay! You mind must've been preoccupied for some time today."

I smiled.

"At least you're here with me."

Jr. nodded.

"Oh, yeah! I have something for you."

I watched as Jr. pulled something out of his jacket that was wrapped in a light purple colored paper and handed it to me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a gift I got you for your birthday. Open it up to see what it is."

I carefully peeled the paper away and was surprised to find a clear back with six plant bulbs, but I couldn't tell what planet it was from.

"Their iris bulbs. Well, to be more technically, there Japanese irises." Jr. told me.

"Why Japanese irises?"

"You were named after these type of irises and thought it would be a good idea if you were to grow flowers of your namesake."

I smiled at Jr. and kissed him on the cheek before hugging him.

"Thank you, Jr." I said. "It really means a lot."

"Y-you're welcome."

I pulled away from him and saw that Jr.'s face was red from blushing.

"I think this is the best birthday I've had."

"It's the only birthday you've had that you can remember."

I smiled at him.

"I know that. But you made it special."

"Why's that?" He asked, a confused look on his face.

"Because I finally realize that as long as you're here with me, I'll always be happy." I grabbed his hand him mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I love you."

* * *

ATE: Now this is the end for this story. I thank all the readers here for reading this story I've worked hard on. Pretty much you've must've noticed the songs I mentioned in this story along with their lyrics to go with it. I'll list the songs. Note that all the songs are by Yuki Kajiura and here are the links to the songs on youtube if you want to listen to theme. Again, I don't own any of the songs (despite how much I like them myself.)

_A Song Of Storm And Fire_ - This song is meant to be Lilith's theme for the entire story series (personally picked by my friend who likes this song). It's from Tsubasa Chronicles.  
**/watch?v=7OBEHUF2C_A**

_Please Call My Name_ - This song is Ayame's theme for the entire story series. The song is from Xenosaga: A Missing Year (the album wasn't released, but you can it on youtube).  
**/watch?v=RleFyPr5WVs**

_Jr._ - As the name implies, this is Jr.'s theme from Xenosaga II soundtrack, and I decided it should be his theme for the entire story series.  
**/watch?v=aJO9WruJN3s&feature=related**

Just know that it'll take a while before I start the next story. Again thank you all for reading. Please Remember To Review! :)


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